The Linguist and the Beast
by Mynerva
Summary: After the events of the First Ones. Daniel has lost a friend but gained another in return. My take on how Daniel and Chaka went from hunter and prey to brothers in arms. Rated T for language. No pairings.
1. Precautions

The Linguist and the Beast

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, merely borrowed by my muse to abuse. Thank you!

Summary: After the events of the First Ones. Missing Scene/POV and an additional plot. In Beast of Burden, Daniel admitted he had been back to see Chaka, leaving him energy bars so the primitive Unas would know who had come calling and the main reason why Chaka was captured by the Slave Traders. I always wondered how those visits might have gone.

Thanks to my beta and good friend _Vivi26_

… … …

**Chapter one: Precautions.**

It was over and as Daniel watched the young Unas walk out of sight into the back of the dimly lit cave, only now did the civilian truly relax.

"What did that mean?" Jack inquired as the Air Force Colonel moved to stand by the younger man.

"I have no idea." Daniel admitted. "But I think I've been invited to come back and find out." It was a prospect that both terrified and intrigued Daniel, the last twenty-four hours had, like he said earlier, been a 'hoot' but he had also been genuinely scared. The prospects of being a meal for these creatures was not an appealing one.

"Yeah, well next time put in an official request," Jack said with a wry smile, one barely visible in the dim light of the cave. "No wandering off again thank you very much."

"I'll try to remember that." Daniel rolled his eyes and held out his hands to be cut free of the bonds that he had worn since this whole mess began. Jack's knife made short work of the damp and dirty coils, the skin beneath red and chaffed in places. Daniel winced as he rotated his wrists and flexed the fingers which had long ago ran cold and numb. He could almost feel the blood running freely into his fingers once again. "Thanks..." he muttered but was quickly looking at Jack in some shock as one nod from him and Teal'c had his Zatt primed on Daniel.

"Just a precaution, Danny." Jack soothed and indicated he should start walking.

"Guess you guys ran into the Goa'uld in the lake..."

"Something like that." There was an underlying tone of sadness in Jack's voice that was rarely heard and Daniel looked at his friend who simply pressed forward without elaborating further. Something bad must have happened and Daniel felt his empty stomach churn.

"Who?" He asked, it was all he needed to say. Jack knew what he was asking.

"Hawkings," Jack's head dipped and as they exited the cave, standing once more in the light of day he continued, pulling on his sunglasses. "Rothman."

Daniel closed his eyes and turned away standing apart from the others.

They got another of his friends...

… … …

Jack watched as Daniel stood in silence looking off at nothing as he slowly come to terms with the news. If he knew Daniel, and he did, the guy would be looking back at everything that happened, blaming himself and the Colonel couldn't let him do that but right now, there was the small problem of not knowing if Daniel was even Daniel.

"Come on, we gotta regroup with Major Coburn." Jack reached out a hand to clamp on Daniels shoulder and the civilian finally looked up at him once more. "Not your fault, Danny." He added softly and Daniel just nodded before he started walking ahead of Teal'c who had taken it upon himself to guard the weary man.

Once they were clear of the cave and once Jack was sure they weren't being followed by any Unas, only then did he call his team to a halt. Teal'c had taken them a different route, one that avoided the water at all costs. They had lost too much already and he was damn sure no more losses would be tallied up this day.

Daniel hit the ground first, knees up and arms rested on them with his head down. It was clear the civilian was exhausted, just a little over twenty-four hours after his capture it all had to be catching up with the guy. Teal'c still had Daniel in his sights, uneasy with the prospect that Daniel could well have been infected with a Goa'uld. Jack looked the younger man over before kneeling down before him. The thing he noticed first was his hands. Daniels wrists were red and cut in places, no doubt from his struggles to get free and Jack was reminded of Hawkins and Rothman once more. Both had caused themselves physical injury in order to break their own bonds. Was this like that? Or was it just Daniel, trying to escape the hold of a primitive Unas on some kind of quest into adulthood?

"Hey," Jack said softly and Daniel slowly looked up and met the Colonel's eyes. "Looks painful." He indicated Daniels wrists.

"I'll live." The tone used was bitter, not meant for Jack, but himself.

The Colonel sat down properly, knees creaking and cracking in protest but he had more to be concerned about than those old bones of his. He quickly fished out the medical pack, broke it open and routed through the organised mess inside for what he needed. The first being a blister pack of Tylenol. He handed it to Daniel before arranging the antiseptic wipes and sterile bandages and just as Daniel finished dry swallowing the pills, he gently took hold of the civilians right hand and in his opinion the most cut up.

"Well, this might sting a little." He warned and started to wipe the reddened area. Daniel hissed and turned away but didn't struggle.

"Where are they?" Jack knew who he was asking about.

"About half a mile." Jack replied softly and continued to clean the wounds.

"Can we-"

"No." Still not pausing in his ministrations, Jack did however look up to meet two angry blue eyes. "Not today. Today we get you home." Apart from the fact that he couldn't be sure if this was just a Goa'uld ploy to get away or to some how bring more bodies for its buddies in the water to invade, Daniel – if it really was Daniel – looked fit to drop.

"I'd like to come back then." Daniels gaze was unwavering, if a little more emotional and Jack had to look away. He had started to wrap the bandages now so he had a convincing 'out'.

"Not my call, Danny."

"But I-"

"Daniel-"

"He came out here for me!" Daniel snapped, his voice to strained with emotion to shout, so all that emerged was a strangled cry and the younger man quickly turned away as the Colonel looked up in time to see evidence of the tears that marked his face. Carter who was standing guard glanced over, her own large blue eyes full of sympathy and anguish for their team mate. Jack nodded once in her direction, silently exchanging worries.

"Yes, yes he did." Jack kept his tone gentle. Any other time he would have been harder, firm. The last few months had been unbelievably hard on Daniel, the loss of his wife being the one 'hard' that stuck out most. "And I am going to honour his memory and make sure, we complete the mission he started." In other words, to get Daniel home again.

Daniel still didn't look up and Jack nodded to Teal'c who slowly and some what solemnly handed Jack the bonds. He hated to do this, considering the fact that Daniel had been bound like this for well over a day, for his friends and team mates to do it again had to be the most cruel kind of irony. At least the soft bandages would offer some comfort and providing Daniel didn't struggle, no further injury.

Jack sighed when he heard the bitter chuckle from the man before him as he snapped the restraints in place.

"It's just-"

"A precaution, I know." Daniels voice was again bitter, despondent and had a familiar congested undertone, like he had a cold. If Jack hadn't seen the tears, he would have put it down to allergies.

As Jack stood again, his knees creaking and a weary sigh of his own escaping, he realised that the last twenty-four hours had to have been some of the longest in his life. Good men had died, even if one was a complete nuisance, Rothman was still a good man. He had willingly returned to a planet full of certain dangers for a friend, a comrade. Civilian or not, it was people like this that made the SGC such a great team to be a part of, but it also made it even harder to accept the losses and move on. With so few people in his life that he still cared about, it hit Daniel harder than most even if a lot of the time he never showed it, right now it was clear he was having trouble disguising his emotions and as such was lashing out at those still around him. Jack could handle that, he'd suffered worse.

"Carter," Jack called to his 2IC as he clipped his pack back into place. "Take point, Teal'c you got our boy. I'll take the six. Lets try and cover as much ground as possible before it gets dark."

"Yes sir." Carter nodded once and headed towards the tree line while Teal'c hoisted Daniel back to his feet by hooking one powerful hand under the civilians shoulder, leaving the supporting limb there till Daniel was balanced and started walking after the Major.

With one final look back at the way they'd came, Jack was soon following. It had taken them a full day to get out this far, it would likely take them just as long to get back, longer still if Daniel couldn't keep up the pace. Over the years the civilian had bulked up and was the most battle hardened civilian in the SGC, but he had still been marched relentlessly across an alien world, with no fresh water and probably no food. The Colonel would inquire with Daniel and see just how accurate his gut instincts were, right now, the guy clearly needed some time to himself.

… … … …

It was official.

Fate had a twisted sense of humour. Not only had it decided to rob him of yet another friend, but he was now in exactly the same position as he had been the day before! Hands bound and being marched across an alien countryside. Granted he was now with his own people but because they couldn't be sure if he really was who he was claiming to be, he was regarded with cautious affection and fingers on triggers.

With his head down, Daniel placed one foot in front of the other and pressed on, ignoring his situation and focusing on getting home, getting the all clear and then with luck getting smashed with Jack that very night. He might not have been able to pay his respects to Robert by visiting his last resting place, but he was going to give the incorrigible man a send off that, Daniel probably wouldn't remember.

_'I'll remember the hangover at least...'_

Daniel had no idea how long they had been walking this time his mind was lost in thoughts as such he was operating on autopilot as he unknowingly set the pace, a pace his former Unas keeper would have been proud of. It was a completely unconscious act, Daniel not entirely aware of the fact his body still seemed to be in 'don't piss off the native beast' mode.

It was not to last.

At first he thought it was nothing more than a rock that had possibly caused his ankle to rotate in the wrong direction seeing him stumble, but as one leg caved beneath him the other seemed to want in on the act and down he went. Teal'c was as fast as ever and with one deft hand he caught the archaeologist before gravity had fully claimed him.

"I have you DanielJackson." Teal'cs voice was always deep, for some reason now it sounded even deeper and Daniel looked up as he leaned against the Jaffa, his still bound hands at an awkward angle and pulling painfully.

"T-thanks..."

"What's up guys?" Teal'c by now had pushed Daniel back onto his feet and held him steady as Jack approached. Daniel was quite out of breath and couldn't offer an explanation at that moment, Teal'c however kept the Colonel apprised.

"I believe DanielJackson requires rest, O'Neill."

"N-no, I'm fine." Daniel said around gasps which obviously didn't help his argument.

_'Of course you are Danny-Boy.'_

Daniel cringed as Jack's unspoken retort bounced around inside his head. They knew each other to well.

"Alright, let's set up camp." Jack stated and started looking for a suitable place to erect the tent.

"I'm really fine!" Daniel called but Teal'c urged him on to the slightly higher and level ground while Jack got on the radio to Sam. She couldn't have been more than a few yards ahead but it was enough to be out of ear-shot.

"High tail it back, Carter, Daniel just hit empty."

"_On my way, sir."_

"I have not hit empty..." Daniel grumbled as Teal'c sat him down on a rock, the Zatt still primed and ready to fire should Daniel, in fact be a Goa'uld.

The stubborn civilian looked up at Teal'c, still dragging air into his lungs as they fought to establish a comfortable rhythm and get the oxygen to his over worked muscles. He hadn't realised how tall Teal'c was though and his head seemed terribly heavy. Suddenly the whole world done a wonderful dance, streaks of green, blue and dark coloured Jaffa were zipping across his eyes as he toppled back off the stone. The jolt as he hit the ground behind him righted his vision and ceased the ferris-wheel like ride long enough to see Jack and Teal'c peering down at him.

"Now...now I've hit empty." He said, voice slurring slightly as he relinquished his consciousness to the abyss that opened up behind him.

… … … …

"...asy."

"W'at?" Daniel's voice sounded too strange to be his own. It was too raw and quiet but as he got the first sensation of taste he realised why it sounded so bad. His mouth was terribly dry and his lips cracked in places as he moved them.

"Here," Out of the near blackness a soft hand reached behind his head and lifted it just enough to feed him the water in the offered tin mug and he drank greedily. "You've been out for hours, I haven't been able to get you to take more than a sip at a time." As the fog receded Daniel realised it was Sam assisting him. Slowly as his vision cleared he could make out her blond hair and kind smile.

"Hey." He greeted her in his usual, flippant way, his voice sounding a little stronger for having the water. He looked around finding himself inside a tent, wrapped up quite snugly in a sleeping bag though his wrists were still bound. Sam noticed the object of his gaze and her eyes filled with an unspoken apology. "I know, a precaution." He sighed and slowly with Sam's help, sat up. His head was pounding the second he was raised and it took a moment for the ferocious thump to recede long enough to open his eyes again.

"You're dehydrated," Sam explained. "Get this down and I promise you'll start to feel a whole lot better."

"Well, better at least." He took another drink feeling Sam's hand rub up and down his upper arm.

"I am sorry, Daniel." She said softly, the sincerity in her voice made the familiar choking sensation return to his throat so he quickly drained what was left in the mug. "Were you...close?"

"Not in the sense I am with you, Jack and Teal'c." He admitted. "Robert was just, I dunno... I guess he reminded me of me when I first started at the SGC." Daniel smiled fondly at the memories, "At the time the jibes and sometimes bullish behaviour of the marines especially, left me feeling deflated and worthless, after a while, I took it for what it was."

"Guys being guys?"

"Yeah." Daniel chuckled and shrugged, wincing slightly at the ache it brought to his neck and shoulders. "Pretty soon the remarks and playful jabs rolled off my back. I even managed to play a few practical jokes of my own."

"Like?" Sam was smiling.+

"I'd rather not say," Daniel snerked. "So when Robert came into the program, I'd pretty much gotten the hang of life on the base and of the people in it."

"It wasn't till I saw him struggling with the same social awkwardness that plagued me most of my life that I realised, we were...the same." Daniel blew out a breath as he twirled the now empty mug in his bound hands.

"I just wanted to help him, wanted to make him feel like he wasn't alone. That the guys weren't as bad as he feared. That everyone was part of the same team, the same family. All trying to do the same thing." Now he was finding it hard to speak and he had to swallow, the trouble was that was a little difficult too.

"When he first started in the department he was, the most closed minded person I have ever worked with, even when faced with the reality of the Stargate and all of the alien worlds and cultures out there, Robert still refused to speculate, to debate. He wanted the facts right in front of him before he would even consider discussing anything. It drove me nuts." Sam chuckled softly. "But I, persevered. It was easier since I realised some time ago you don't have to agree on everything to be friends."

"Might you be talking about a certain Air Force Colonel by any chance?"

Daniel laughed softly but let the rise and fall of his brow answer that for him. "So, we weren't close. But he was my friend." Daniel looked back down at the mug. "And I am going to miss him." Again he felt Sam's hand on his arm, squeezing in silent support. "So anyway, my whole collapsing thing..." He quickly changed the subject. "You still think I could be a...snake-head?" He used Jack's terminology to lighten the mood since this subject was still pretty grim.

"Well, Teal'c says that a Goa'uld is capable of inflicting pain on its host too, and since they can do that, it can probably withhold the regenerative effects in a bid to conceal itself."

"Crafty."

"That's one word for it." Sam smiled and plucked the mug from his hands. "I'll get you some more water. Think you could eat?" At the prospect of food his stomach chose that moment to speak, no, scream its vote as it grumbled loudly. Daniel covered his midsection, partly to try and muffle the embarrassing sound and partly to soothe the cramp that came with it. "I'll take that as a yes." Sam nodded and slipped out of the tent.

… … … …

Jack O'Neill looked up as Teal'c exited the tent he had been resting in and strode over, staff weapon in hand. Night had fallen some time ago and each member of his team had been sleeping soundly while the veteran Colonel stood watch. Now, it was his turn to get a little shut eye and with Teal'c taking the last watch of the night, it was a straight four hours sleep till sun-up and hopefully an uneventful home-stretch.

"O'Neill." The Jaffa bowed his head in greeting and the Colonel lifted his left hand briefly to wave. "You may retire O'Neill. I have the watch."

"Sure thing, but before I go," He sat up straight from resting upon the butt of the P90 and tossed the high-tech peekers to Teal'c who caught them deftly with one hand. "Take a look on that ridge."

With a customary lift of the left brow, Teal'c done as he was instructed and peered through the binoculars, homing in on the point of interest.

"An Unas, by a fire." Teal'c stated calmly and returned the binoculars to Jack who shoved them into his pack.

"Yeah, I noticed it yesterday. It's been following us since the cave." The Colonel stood as Teal'c regarded him curiously.

"You did not inform us of this."

"No," He sighed. Honestly he wasn't sure why he hadn't brought it up until now. Back at the cave when they had finally caught up with Daniel he was all for shooting first and asking questions later, but then one of them put its own life on the line for Daniel. If Jack hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he would never have believed it. Their previous run ins with the species weren't exactly smooth as each time it involved one or all running for their very lives and even this particular episode started with Daniel being dragged off by one. "It's kept its distance. So long as it keeps doing that, I think we're okay."

"Do you believe this is the Unas who first captured DanielJackson?" He didn't look it, but Teal'c was a sharp as Jack's trusty knife.

"I'm not sure. They all look the same to me." He shrugged and headed to the tent, patting the large shoulder of Teal'c as he passed. "If it moves, come get me."

"I will. Sleep well O'Neill."

"Ha!" Teal'c also had a wicked sense of humour.

Inside the tent was warm and Jack shivered slightly as it hit him, his body reminding him how cold his lonely sentry had been. He tread carefully, aware of the man curled up on the right side of the tent dead to the world.

Daniel was laid on his right side, bound hands curled up under his chin. The position had to be uncomfortable, not being able to move his hands as freely as he would have liked, but it was a necessary evil. With the ever present possibility that Daniel could be a Goa'uld, Jack slipped the Zatt under his jacket within easy reach should the worst come to pass, before kicking off his boots and slipping as quietly as possible into the next bag.

"I'm sorry if I snapped at you before." Came a sleepy voice.

Jack lifted his head and looked across the narrow space between them at Daniel. He could just about make out the younger man's features.

"It's okay, Daniel." Jack smiled and beat some air into his pillow, which in this case, was his jacket.

"No, it's not." Daniel sighed softly and twisted a little, his hands resting awkwardly across his chest.

"Well, you haven't had the best of days." Jack offered.

"Neither have you."

"Granted, I've had better yes. But today could have been a hell of a lot worse."

"I don't see how."

"Might not have got you back either." He could see Daniel's head turn ever so slightly to look back in Jacks direction and the Colonel lifted himself up on one elbow, before reaching across and gently patting his friends shoulder. "Sleep Danny. We'll be home in a few hours and you can finally get the use of your hands back." He grinned and Daniel chuckled softly.

"First thing I'm gonna do is punch you."

"What for?!"

"For tying me up."

"Pffft! Keep talking like that and I'll make sure Fraiser has you in restraints for a week!" Jack tried to sound serious but Daniel's laughter was making that particular façade very difficult. "Sleep. Now. Order."

"Yessir."

"Stop giggling."

"Can't."

"You're worse than Carter."

"I heard that sir." Came the distant but clear call from Sam in the next tent over.

"Busted." Daniel said with another snigger and Jack was very tempted to Zatt him there and then. Still, it was good to hear him laugh.


	2. The Evolutionary Road not Taken

**Chapter Two - The Evolutionary Road Not Taken**

After another half a days walking, SG-1 finally made it back to the gate and Sam wasted no time in dialing Earth. To Daniel the gate had never looked so good and the prospect of finally being home, dry, warm and to sleep on an actual bed, even if it would be in the Infirmary. He was under no illusion what was to come in the next few hours would be pleasant, in fact it was one of his personal nightmares.

As expected he was greeted by armed men and General Hammond, all of whom had been briefed on the situation and while Hammond welcomed him home, again it was with mixed feelings. On one hand he was happy to have a friend returned to them, but again the shadow of doubt hanging over that greeting, wondering if he was addressing that friend, or an alien parasite. Daniel wanted to reassure the General, all of them that he was Daniel Jackson, at least he thought he was. Sure he had taken a dip in the river, but Chaka had spared him a life of a host. He could have done without the ritual smearing of the blood across his face...but then beggars and choosers.

Flanked by his team, Jack waved away the usual armed escort who would usually deal with a possible Goa'uld host, and SG-1 took it upon themselves to march the civilian to the infirmary and the waiting MRI. With Jack and Teal'c either side of him, Daniel was promptly seated and Janet appeared with a syringe loaded with sedative.

"Do you really, really need to give me that?" He asked with a sigh already knowing the answer.

"I'm afraid so, Daniel. It's precautionary only and for your safety." Daniel couldn't help but roll his eyes at that. How many precautions had he been subjected to since yesterday? The motion didn't go unnoticed by Jack who simply patted Daniel's shoulder and stepped aside so Janet could do her thing. "It's a very mild dose, you'll be awake in an hour or two once we've determined you're in the clear."

"And if I'm not?" It wasn't a fair question and he felt guilty for even putting them in the position to answer it, but Janet was as professional and caring as ever.

"Then you'll sleep until we get the little bugger out of you." Daniel flashed her a ghost of a smile and braced himself as she prepared to inject him. "Little scratch and then you need to lay back."

Daniel had never been fond of needles, it was a fear he never quite understood since a lot of the time things like that were associated with doctors and hospitals, people and places meant to help others. But then Daniel's first experience with such places had not been a good one. A little boy of eight, stranded in a hospital hallway, waiting for news on the fate of his parents, flashes of the accident and the events that quickly followed there-after plaguing his young mind. He had seen needles and instruments of medical care, most of which seemed more damaging than the huge cover stone that had extinguished the life of his parents and torn them from him. Add to that, his all to recent brush with insanity, largely thanks to Michello and Daniel was positively sick to death of the blasted things.

So when he felt that first scratch, followed by the familiar cold, snaking up into his arm, his face paled considerably. The fear and loathing didn't last long as the drug started to take hold, slowly at first giving him enough time to shuffle back on the gurney, Teal'c assisted in guiding and supporting Daniel as he lowered his head and shoulders back, the frame of the MRI visible above him as the black started to creep into the edges of his vision. He struggled against it at first, hating the feeling of being out of control, not knowing what would happen to him while he was out.

"Hate this..." He managed to mutter before the tug of sleep became too strong.

... ... ... ...

As Daniel drifted off and his breathing evened out, bound hands resting around his abdomen as Teal'c adjusted the unconscious man's position on the gurney according to Doc Fraiser's instructions. The slurred words made Jack sigh and the Colonel ran a hand through his greying hair before following Teal'c out and up into the observation room.

Daniel hated this? He wanted to try spending a minute in Jack's boots, because the possibility that his best friend could be host to a parasite just wasn't fun at all. He'd already lost so many to the bastard things. Kewolsky and the horrifying last days of his life came to mind and Jack's mood darkened even more.

After checking their boy, Fraiser was now stomping into the control room and Jack stepped out of her way, eager to get this over with so they knew either way. Carter looked as worried as he felt and Teal'c had remained by the door below, as if guarding it. Not to protect Daniel, but to protect everyone else from Daniel if their worst fears were confirmed.

An agnonising five minutes of the Colonel's life dripped by, feeling like hours as Fraiser worked the machine below. They flocked around the screen, tense and anxious, breaths collectively held until Fraiser announced it.

"He's clear." The Doc's voice oozed with relief and she was up in the blink of an eye and heading back down into the chamber, passing the good news on to Teal'c who came into the observation room smiling. Carter rubbed her face and looked up as if thanking God, Jack just sat down, crumpled cap in hand.

"I'm getting too old for this," Jack muttered and looked up at Carter who was smiling sympathetically.

"The General will need to be briefed, sir."

"Yeah," Jack stood to watch as Daniel's hands were finally cut free to fall limply by his side, before he was transferred to a gurney and made comfortable. "Lets go and deliver the briefing, Daniel's gonna be out for a few hours at least and you know how Ol'Doc Fraiser likes to poke him." He grinned and Carter chuckled before leaving ahead of him.

... ... ... ...

After two days of treking through an alien landscape, Jack just wanted to go home, pop the top off a few beers and put his feet up. All in good time, he thought as he and the other two members of his team sat around the conference table relaying the events of the last forty-eight hours.

Of course they could only disclose what they themselves witnessed, the blanks would have to be filled in by Daniel as soon as he was up and about again, which with a little luck would be soon. Jack had a feeling Daniel would want in on the whole 'beer and feet up' thing.

"We had no idea the waters were filled with parasitic Goa'uld until Teal'c was attacked by one." Carter stated, the General looking confused and alarmed all at the same time.

"Major Carter, I thought you were able to 'sense' Goa'uld after your encounter with the Tok'ra Jolinar."

"Encounter, that's a nice way of putting, invaded." Jack offered, unphased and not wanting to get off topic, Carter continued.

"I can sir, or at least ones who have Naquadah in their bodies. Dr Rothman said the fossilized Goa'uld he and Daniel had uncovered at the dig site contained no traces of the element, it must have only become part of their make-up after they left P3X-888."

"How did you determine who had become infected?"

"I restrained the members of the search party," Teal'c began. "I knew that the Goa'uld would make an attempt to escape, the plan succeeded and Major Hawkins revealed himself to be a host. He attacked the rest of the party, I intervened."

"Thank you for that, by the way." Jack grinned to which Teal'c simply bowed his head with a small smile.

"Once he was dispatched I then went on to free the remaining members. It was then I noticed the ligature marks on RobertRothmans wrists. He had also become infected. He assaulted me and shot Captain Griff. O'Neill then fired upon RobertRothman."

"Do we have any idea when they became infected?"

"Hawkins was acting strangely when we found him," Jack shrugged. "I put it down to shock, he'd just seen most of his team wiped out."

"I do not believe his behaviour indicative of him being a host, O'Neill. RobertRothman seemed to be completely normal the entire time."

"Well, normal for Rothman."

"The point is sir," Carter interjected, ignoring the bad joke. "We have no way to determine who is infected with one of these Goa'ulds. I would recommend suspending all activity to P3X-888 until we can fully prepare our people for this new threat."

"Did DanielJackson not wish to return there?"

"Yes he did, Teal'c," Jack blew out a breath and was very glad the civilian in question wasn't around to argue. "But I'm with Carter on this one. Apart from the Goa'uld, the place is home to native Unas, one of which killed one man and injured several others before dragging Daniel off as a sacrifice."

"I have to agree with both of you, the losses are already far too high to justify what we might have gained in understanding the Goa'ulds history."

"I can't completely agree with that sir," Carter began and Jack shot her a confused look. "I mean, of course what happened is awful, but everything the archaeological team discovered has given us a fundamental understanding of the Goa'uld as a species. Daniel already theorised that the first Goa'uld came from this world, taking the native Unas as hosts before discovering how to use the gate and escape that world. But why?"

"Carter?"

"Why leave their world at all? We already know the Goa'uld didn't build the gate system," Carter continued. "They just utilised it along with every piece of technology they were able to leech when blending with the other races, specifically Humans. But their success only came after they left P3X-888."

"Goa'uld Queens reproduce with the host organism to ensure the blending is successful, do you not consider this to be a factor in their success beyond the confines of their world of origin?" Teal'c again provided a valid point.

"Of course, its possible they are able to target specific strands of DNA and pass on superior characteristics to their young. Throw in a couple hundred years and they've evolved into a better parasite, specifically engineered to take over a particular species."

"The point is, P3X-888 is from a point in their evolution when they were relatively vulnerable with none of the intelligence or specific adaptations that make them so dangerous to humans. The Goa'uld we know have literally altered their evolutionary cycle so they can blend successfully with the human populations out there, while the ones on 888 continue to follow a path that its native environment allows."

"They will have been exposed to an entirely different set of circumstances, environmental factors such as disease and bacteria. If we can study the Goa'uld on 888, I bet we find them full of micro-organisms that the System Lords have never had to contend with, but the micro-organisms themselves will have evolved to be better Goa'uld killers."

"You mean like a virus?" So often these conversations completely went over the Colonel's head. He figured he had been exposed to so many of them in the past, he had since evolved a little and could now keep up.

"Exactly sir."

"You wanna give the Goa'uld a cold?!" Carter simply shrugged and he knew then that she found it far-fetched even if the reasoning was sound.

"So you think there maybe something on this world we can use to, defeat the Goa'uld?" The General queried, seeking clarification before he made his decision.

"Its possible, sir. We won't know until we keep looking."

"But you just said it's too risky." Jack stated.

"And it is, but if there really is something on this world to help us beat the Goa'uld, it might be worth it."

"Very well, Major. I'll take into consideration your hypothesis, but for now I think you're right about suspending travel to P3X-888. Until we can adequately prepare and protect our people, no one is to set foot there."

... ... ... ...

"Hey Doc," Janet Fraiser turned at the familiar sound of Colonel O'Neill as he addressed her in his usual way. She knew why he was here and she shot him a reassuring smile as he fell into step beside her. "How's our boy?"

"Well, apart from a few bruises, bumps, blisters and some pretty painful ligature marks around his wrists, he's fine."

"Is he awake yet?" He asked as he checked his watch. They had entered the quiet ward and the sight that greeted him answered the Colonel's question.

Daniel was laid on his right side, curled up comfortably. The light had been dimmed to promote the rest he clearly needed and he had been relieved of his off world equipment in favour of the infirmary gowns.

"I thought you only gave him a mild sedative?" The Colonel stated in an almost accusing tone. Janet didn't take it personally.

"And you would be right sir. The sedative wore off an hour ago, Daniel is sleeping." She kept her voice down as they approached the foot of Dr Jackson's bed and while the concern and loyalty of SG-1 continued to restore her faith in humanity, the Colonel looked weary. "I have no reason to keep Daniel in, he can go as soon as he's up to it. For now I'm prepared to let him rest. Something you should be doing too, sir."

"I'm fine."

"Of course you are, sir. But healthy people need to sleep too." Janet gave the Colonel's arm a supportive squeeze as she headed back to her office. She was under no illusion that he would do as she asked right away and as expected the Colonel took up a seat at Daniel's bedside. It was an hour later she found the chair empty with the Colonel no where in sight.

... ... ... ...

As far as stays in the infirmary went, this one hadn't been so bad. It was a relief to wake up a few short hours later, like Janet had said rather than remain out of it for who knew how long while they looked for a way to remove the parasite. As such Daniel hadn't been infected and so his recovery was, thankfully simple. Sleep.

And how!

After rousing the first time, the sedative releasing him of its hold, Janet had said he was free to leave and normally that would have had him sprinting for the nearest exit buck-naked. This time however, he just felt far too bone weary and hadn't made any effort to move. Janet read the lack of enthusiasm accurately and a moment later she was helping him into the itchy Infirmary gowns.

Daniel had a small amount to eat and a little to drink before curling up. The pillow soft, the blankets a welcome weight around his world-weary body and in no time at all, he was dead to the world. Normally a light sleeper, Daniel might have woken upon Jack's arrival in the Infirmary. As it was, his sleep was so deep and all encompassing, he didn't even realise his friend had called by.

"Well it's about time." Daniel looked up from lacing up his boots to see Jack standing over him, hands in pockets, wearing a customary Jack O'Neill smile.

"Hey Jack." Lace now tied, Daniel sat up, wincing when his back and neck twinged.

"You okay?"

"Huh? Oh yeah," He stopped rubbing the back of his neck and stood. "Just a bit stiff." Plucking his black leather jacket from the bed, Daniel started walking, Jack beside him. "I'm just on my way to see Hammond, I figured you guys would have had the briefing by now."

"And what a delight that was." Jack stated earning a curious look from Daniel.

"Is there something I should be aware of?"

"Yeah but, I'd ask Carter."

"Okay, why?"

"Because all I can remember from the briefing is: we're gonna give the Goa'uld a cold."

Daniel stopped walking, his brow creased in utter confusion. It took the civilian all but a second to piece together the subtle clues and realisation dawned on him. "Of course! The System Lords branched off from their primordial ancestors centuries ago. The Goa'uld on 888 will have a significantly stronger resistance to viruses and bacteria than the ones who left to take on Human hosts! A biological weapon could be engineered."

Jack pursed his lips before he spoke. "Seriously, you got all that from 'we're gonna give the Goa'uld a cold?'"

"Well it's pretty obvious isn't it?" They started walking again.

"If you say so." They reached the elevator and Daniel called for the car, noting Jack was also in civilian garb.

"You heading home?"

"No, we're heading to a bar."

Daniel blinked.

"_We are_?"

"Yes. We are. No arguments."

"But-"

"Ah! What did I just say?"

"No arguments."

"And what part of that did you not understand?"

"Well I understood all of it-"

"And yet." Jack held his hands out in a 'there you are' gesture and Daniel rolled his eyes with a smile.

"Okay, but what's the occasion?"

"You'll see." There was a twinkle in the Colonel's eye as he grinned in that cheeky way before stepping into the elevator car. Daniel simply shook his head and followed in after him. Being Jack's friend was never dull, he would give him that much.

... ... ... ...

It had been a long time since Daniel had been in O'Malley's bar and when they came here on a relaxing team outing, it was usually in the evening. Seeing it at lunch time in the light of day the place had a completely different buzz about it. It was cleaner than he expected a night spot to be, but then it had to be if it did business during the day time hours also.

The bar was on the left as they entered, with two staff members behind it ready to serve drinks, while a long buffet table full of food ran opposite the bar. The place was busy, full of strangely familiar faces and it took Daniel a while to work out the crowd consisted only of base personnel. He turned and looked questioningly at Jack who simply steered him through the bodies towards the back of the room, where a table had been set up.

The table was decorated with a pristine white cloth and in the centre was a vase of flowers, white Lilly's In front of the vase stood various framed pictures. Some of which were of Robert Rothman and Daniel felt his throat tighten.

Since being told how Robert had died, he had tried to imagine what his friend's last moments might have been like. Was he scared, in pain, angry? Daniel had played out so many scenarios in his mind that Robert's features were starting to become unfamiliar, twisted some how by all the uncertainty. Now he was looking upon Robert's smiling face and it seemed to repair the fragmented memory of his friend. Gone was the lonely torment of his death as Daniel was reminded of the good man he had been.

Loder and Hawkins smiled back also, adorned in dress blues or their favourite sports jersey. The rest of Robert's pictures were of digs and his own personal sporting achievements All three men's lives and best moments laid out for all grieving their loss, to see, to be reminded of who they where before they had been taken.

Daniel just about managed to swallow and turned slightly to where Jack stood beside him.

"You did all this?" Daniel asked, his voice a little weaker for the emotion he was just about holding back.

"Yeah," Jack stated matter of factly as he stood, nodding in approval at his handy work.

"When, I mean. All this-"

"What? After all the memorials I've held on your behalf, I'm a semi-pro. Thinking of starting my own business."

Daniel couldn't help but laugh at that, but as the humour escaped, so did the sorrow and Daniel covered his mouth till he got a handle on it again. "You're a good man, Jack. Did I ever tell you that?" Daniel turned to briefly smile up at his friend who simply shrugged.

"Not lately." The Colonel grinned and put an arm around Daniel's shoulders, leading him once more, this time to the bar. "But I'll forgive all if you buy me a beer."

"Beer?" Daniel made a disapproving sound as they hit the bar and summoned the barmaid who smiled kindly at the pair. "Two of your best single-malts."

Jacks brows almost flew off his head. "Don't you think its a little early for that stuff?"

"Nope. I promised Robert I'd give him a great send off, one I wouldn't remember."

"Well, you're definitely going about it the right way." Jack held up the glass tumbler up to inspect the quality of the whiskey, swirling it around the glass, noting how the amber liquid seemed to linger on the surface of the glass before slipping back down. "Cheers." They touched glasses and took the first sips of many.

... ... ... ...

Issac Hawkins looked down at the pictures of his older brother and all he could feel was anger.

They had served in the SGC together well over a year and had taken the good times with the bad. The brothers knew what they were getting into when they signed up for the program but they also knew it would be one huge adventure, one not many people could embark upon.

It had been the best year of their lives, even with the danger they faced every time they set foot through the gate, neither of them ever regretted taking the position at Cheyenne Mountain, until now.

Issac wanted to let the anger go, wanted to accept the fact that his brother was gone and it had been no ones fault. But he couldn't, especially since he blamed someone for his loss.

Turning his gaze towards the bar, Issac glowered as the man stood, laughing and joking with his friends. Daniel Jackson was the reason his brother was dead. The lucky son-of-a-bitch had been taken by a freaking Unas and was alive to tell the damn tale, so why then was his brother dead and not this man? Dale had done his job, protected those under his command as best he could while he was baby-sitting the academics as they played in the dirt. Why Dale, why not this Jackson guy? He had been the one to be dragged off! Exposed to all the dangers of that world and still come out of it smelling of roses.

"It's terrible." Came a meek voice to Issac's left and the young Sergeant turned to see one of the archaeologists gazing at the memorial table and all the pictures upon it. He was short, with thinning blond hair and thick glasses. He was nursing a glass of red wine, probably his first and only drink of the day. "To loose so many men to one-"

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" Issac didn't care he sounded bitter, quite frankly he could care less who this guy was. All he wanted was for the insignificant little bastard to get lost.

"I beg your pardon, Dr James Wilder, archaeology department." James held out his hand as if to shake, and quickly retracted the limb when Issac ignored the gesture. "I served under your brother's command on a few other assignments."

"How nice." Issac moved to stand apart from James, the last thing he wanted was to listen to the same bull-shit he had been subjected to since arriving at the place.

"I also worked with Dr Rothman," James continued, ignoring or appearing not to realize that Issac was trying to get away from the guy. "Such a tragic loss for the SGC." James continued to ramble on, words and phrases so often exchanged in times like this. All of them cliche and meaningless. Issac's attention was still firmly pinned on Jackson as he watched him engage in conversation with many in the room, taking this whole condolence thing in his stride. What the hell did he have to feel bad about? He hadn't lost anyone. Sure, he and Rothman had worked together for sometime, but that was nothing compared to the hurt Issac was feeling.

As he watched Jackson continue to play the victim, Issac found himself striding over, what was left of the whiskey he poured down his neck, to strengthen his resolve. He was gonna give this ass-hole a piece of his mind.

... ... ... ...

Jack had seen the guy coming, even after a few drinks of the lethal whiskey his senses were as sharp as ever. Over the years and due to the extensive training he had received during his time in Special Forces, he was able to resist the influences of alcohol better than most. It really wasn't fair on Daniel who made every effort to keep up with him on the nights they kicked back, but it was always fun to watch his usually cautious and restrained friend let go and just have fun. So he really didn't feel that bad about it.

Daniel was on his third whiskey and was just starting to relax. The events of the last few days forgotten as he celebrated the life of a friend and bid farewell to yet another person absent from his life. Daniel had suffered so much loss over the years, it was a wonder the civilian had kept sane. Jack liked to think that he and the rest of the team had played a large part in that, it was only fair that Jack return the favour.

After loosing his son Charlie, Jack O'Neill had died. He no longer functioned as intended. All he had left was the job, one he would do at all costs. Even if it cost him his life. Life without his beautiful boy, was not a life he wanted. It wasn't until Daniel Jackson came into that shattered life that he was reminded that there were still things to live for, to hope for, that the loss he felt was natural and healthy. Daniel had saved him that day, without even realizing it.

So now Jack done all he could to live up to the faith Daniel had in him, by being his friend, by reminding the guy of his own philosophy. There was still a lot for Daniel Jackson to live for.

"You, I wanna talk to you." Issac Hawkins stepped up to Daniel who was trying to explain to Teal'c how whiskey was made and what made the one he was currently drinking so special. Jack had moved to intercept Issac, placing a hand on the guys chest and stopping him in his tracks, but short of rendering him unconscious and dragging his drunken ass out of there, he couldn't do much to stop his mouth.

Daniel turned, something inside obviously alerting him to the situation and knowing he was the one Issac wanted. Jack wasn't sure if Daniel knew who Issac was, but even if he hadn't, he did as soon as he laid eyes on the kid. Issac looked just like his brother.

"Issac, don't do this." Jack said softly, his tone full of warning.

"Don't do what? Tell this piece of shit what I really think of him?"

"Listen-" Jack had moved forward, his hand, once flat against Hawkins chest now snatched up a good portion of the shirt and pushed back.

"Whoa, Jack," Daniel's hand landed on his shoulder and pulled him away sparing the sergeant the beating of a lifetime. "It's okay." Daniel stepped forward to face Issac, but not with violence or harsh words. Daniel just stood there, ready to let it happen, willing to let Hawkins to do what he obviously needed. "Issac, is it?"

"Sergeant Hawkins." Jack glared at the guy and anyone around the enraged Colonel might have felt the temperature drop.

"Sergeant," Daniel smiled and nodded. "I'm sorry, your brother was a good man."

"Don't give me that crap. You think I need to hear from you or anyone else about what kind of person my own brother was? He was my brother for fucks sake!"

"I only wanted to-"

"He'd be alive if it wasn't for you."

"Just a god-damned minute-"

"Jack," again Daniel's hand held the Colonel back as he allowed Hawkins to continue.

"They all would be!" Everyone in the bar was now fully aware of the scene unfolding and watched with a mixture of emotions. Some were clearly horrified by the accusation, others seemed to understand it, like Daniel, but none of them agreed with it. "What makes you so special, that even after being targeted by this creature and dragged across miles and miles of terrain, exposed to all the same dangers they were, that you're the one to be saved? Why the hell didn't we just let it have you? Griff wouldn't have been shot, Rothman wouldn't have become a host and I'm pretty sure no one else would have been hurt!"

"I'm not special..."

"Damn right you're not! You're just some guy, no better than anyone else in this room. So then why all the fuss to get you back? Why did good men have to be sacrificed so you could be here now, acting like your upset, like you're the one who's suffering. You don't have the first clue about loss-"

Jack was starting to see red, the only thing that held him back was Daniel's hand still firmly planted in the center of his chest holding him back. He could feel a slight quake run through the limb and he knew Daniel was starting to feel the sting of those words, even if he was prepared to take every wicked blow.

"Sergeant Hawkins. I would advise you to leave the premises immediately." Teal'c spoke through ground teeth as he side-stepped their deflated friend to stare down at Hawkins. With Jack on the other side, both ready to pound the bastard in to mush. Carter came from her position near the crowd and took Daniel's hand to gently pull him back into the fold of the team and without knowing they had all placed themselves between the civilian and Hawkins.

"I wouldn't stay here if you paid me." The empty glass in Issac's hand was unceremoniously slammed onto the bar before the misguided fool wove his way through the crowed and out of the bar leaving a furious SG-1 glaring at his back. All furious save for one: Daniel.

"Are you okay?" Carter asked, beating everyone else to the punch.

"Course." Daniel replied in a much more chirpy tone than anyone had been expecting. "Guys, come on. If I was gonna fall apart every time someone was rude to me, I'd have never made it past the first mission to Abydos." At that he eyed Jack seeing the Colonel's anger ebb a little at the silent joke shared between them.

"Sergeant Hawkins was out of line." Teal'c said, his voice still full of barely held back rage.

"He's just grieving Teal'c."

"That doesn't give him the right to talk to you like that, Daniel." Carter looked to the Colonel to back her up and he wasn't about to disappoint.

"Damn right it doesn't. Hurting or not, he's just let himself and Dale down. Poor guy will be turning in his grave." Jack drained what was left in his glass, savoring the warmth that filled his stomach.

"He's angry, that's all. And I'd like to put it behind me now and get on with my own method of grieving."

"Getting drunk?" Jack queried as he watched Daniel order three more shots of whiskey and a root beer for Teal'c.

"And how." Daniel replied and threw the alcohol down his throat.


	3. Through the Eyes of the Beast

**Chapter three: Through the Eyes of the Beast**

It had been three months since Daniel or anyone else had set foot on P3X-888. It had taken that time to fully brief all personnel on the very clear and present danger that now awaited them on that world. The powers that be had not only labelled the native Goa'uld a high risk, but also the primitive Unas.

This wasn't something Daniel could completely agree with since he had seen first hand exactly what they were. A species with language and social structure. He had began a tentative friendship with one, the same adolescent Unas that had captured Daniel in the hopes of cutting him up and feeding him to his tribe. Thankfully it never got that far and Chaka, assuming Daniel was right and that was his name, had freed him. Not only freed him, but killed the alpha male to ensure the civilians safety.

As much as he wanted to pursue the path of good relations with a potentially powerful ally, Daniel hadn't been given the green light to do so.

Yet.

He was still in the middle of petitioning an expedition into the surrounding terrain to make contact with the Unas again, hopefully Chaka who since killing the alpha had assumed the mantle of leader in his tribe. General Hammond and Jack hadn't been to thrilled with the idea at all and his request had been stonewalled at every turn.

Daniel was frustrated by the lack of progress but he also understood the terrible risk they were already taking in allowing a team back on 888. While the potential benefits, a way to defeat the Goa'uld once and for all, made the risk worth taking, Daniel still couldn't help but feel there was much to be gained in allying themselves with such a versatile species like the Unas.

"Carter, take point." Jack called once they were all clear of the gate. "Teal'c, with Carter. Danny," Jack grinned and slapped his hand upon the civilians shoulder. "Not to leave my sight." Daniel rolled his eyes.

"I am not about to go running off, Jack."

"Ain't that the truth." The Colonel's grin grew and Daniel was dragged along beside that of his friend.

SG-1 made the three hour trek to the dig-site in good time and were soon greeted by Major Hawthorn of SG12. The tall man with dark graying hair greeted Jack in the customary way when acknowledging a superior officer. Jack was quick to dismiss protocol and engaged in friendly banter, as if meeting up with an old friend for the first time in years.

"Hank, good to see you. How are you enjoying the post?"

"Oh you know, Jack. Long hours, near constant rain and a whole troop of wide-eyed science types to protect. Where do I send the thank you card?"

"My ass?" Jack grinned and the Major chuckled.

"Believe me when I say, that was something I considered."

"Major Hawthorn," Daniel extended his hand to shake, the action a little awkward since they were now walking and he had to reach around Jack. "Daniel Jackson..."

"Good to finally meet you Dr Jackson, Jack's told me all about you."

"He-he has?" The civilian eyed the Colonel who's expression looked a little pained, like Daniel really wouldn't appreciate the things that had been discussed. "Never mind, I don't want to know."

"Good call." The Major chortled as he moved to lead the way into base camp.

"This is the rest of my team, Major Carter and Teal'c." Jack indicated each member as they stepped under the canopy to escape the fine spray that had been raining down since their arrival.

"Major, Teal'c." Hawthorn smiled at each, shaking their hands. "So what can I do for you guys?"

"Well a few things actually," Jack began, removing his now very damp cap to try and shake it out. "I'm here to review the security of base camp, get any of your concerns addressed. Carter's brought a new toy and Daniel wants to go play in the dirt."

"The new toy is a mobile MRI co-developed with the Tok'ra so we can do regular spot checks on all our people here." Sam declared, only a marginal amount of irritation in her voice since she had explained exactly what it was back in the briefing room. Jack just nodded.

"Yeah, that toy." Sam was now smiling and shaking her head. She never could stay mad at him and Daniel smiled to himself.

"He was right about me at least, I do want to play in the dirt." Daniel grinned and turned to look in the direction of the dig, spotting at least one familiar face.

"By all means, Dr Jackson." Hawthorn raised his hand as if to show him the way.

"Hold it, Daniel." The civilian groaned at Jack's order to halt and he turned back, waiting. "What's your security set up like?"

"We have three men posted at high ground and two more patrolling at all times. Base camp is as secure as we can make it. We have charges set up at two choke points, you passed one on route from the gate, the other leads down towards the lake and the caves you found the Unas."

"Have you seen any of the native Unas?" Daniel asked unknowingly stealing the question from Jack's lips.

"We've had a few unconfirmed reports of movement within the tree line just outside of the camp, but no attacks. Probably local wild-life or my men getting jumpy. We heard plenty of horror stories prior to being posted here."

"Yeah," Jack cast a glance towards Daniel as if to reiterate the fact that the place was dangerous. "Okay, Daniel go ahead. But stay within the base perimeter at all times."

"Of course." Daniel tried not to sound like a whiny child but he had been subjected to this kind of talking down by Jack since they got the good to go. He headed back out into the gentle spray and strode towards the dig, memories of his time working with Robert coming to his mind and he smiled sadly. The days of debate and arguing, finding Robert's socks littered all over his side of the tent and almost having an anxiety attack when his own OCD kicked in. Daniel was sure he had spent more time cleaning up their shared living space than actual excavating.

"Dr Jackson," Daniel was pulled from his memories as Dr Wilder spotted his advance and climbed from the dig to greet him and shake hands.

"Please, call me Daniel." He returned the vigorous shake with enthusiasm and took a look down at the work that had already been done. "Wow, the rain really done a number on the place."

"I'm afraid so. A lot of the specimens you and Dr Rothman uncovered have sadly been reclaimed by the earth." Dr Wilder removed his glasses to clean before putting them back on. "We've been working in regular shift patterns to try and recover what was lost, but in the three-months since we were here last, there has been an unprecedented amount of rain fall."

"That's a shame." Daniel stepped down into what remained of the site. "Well, it's partly the reason I'm here. If you and your team need any additional people or equipment, just let me know."

"I think we're good for now, all we need is time." Wilder paused. "Do you really think we can harvest these micro-organisms from the fossilized remains of the Goa'uld?"

"It's not impossible, but it's going to be a lot of trail and error. Once we've cultivated the virus' and bacteria from these hundred year old fossils, we can then use that as a basis to identify how these organisms have evolved when compared with the samples from the live specimens in the lake. Which...is going to be dangerous part..." Daniel fell silent running his hand over the area Wilder had been working, he was once again reminded of Robert.

"Still hard to believe he's gone, isn't it?" Daniel glanced over his shoulder at Wilder and nodded.

"It is." Daniel rubbed his hands together as he was reminded of another reason he wanted to return to this world. "I-I heard there's a memorial here, for the men who were lost."

"Yes there is," Wilder reached down to help Daniel out before pointing in the direction of a rock face off to the east. "It's over there."

"If you'll excuse me, Dr Wilder,"

"Please, if I am to call you Daniel, I insist you refer to me as James." Dr Wilder smiled and Daniel nodded.

"Fair enough. I'll be here for most of the day before Colonel O'Neill drags me back to Earth, if you or any of your team have any questions, concerns or requests of any kind just come and find me."

"Sure thing." They shook hands once more before Daniel slowly made his way towards the area Dr Wilder had pointed out, reaching into his pocket for the small trinket he had been wanting to place at Robert's final resting place. The man himself was buried a few miles away from the camp, as was Hawkins. Close to where they had fallen. It wasn't possible for Daniel to get there, so he would settle for the memorial.

The small tribute had been set against the wall of the cliff, that climbed about thirty feet. It was also one of the locations the security patrols would use as a look out to watch the surrounding area so he was pretty safe and within the confines of the base itself. There was a cross within the cliff wall, protected from the elements and even with all the rain, it remained fairly dry. The cross had been adorned in the dog-tags of the three men and various tokens had been tied, or bolted to the carved wooden epitaph. The more colourful members of the SGC had written some crude but also touching tributes to the men and he could almost imagine Robert's surprise at discovering a lot of those tributes were also meant for him.

Daniel stood before the memorial, the hand-woven leather band in hand. He had made it himself some time ago. It had originally been meant for Robert's birthday, a man of simple tastes and something as quirky as this was enough to brighten his day. Daniel had found an old coin of little value from one of the digs Robert had been lead on. Robert had taken a shine to the beautifully decorated silver talisman, the runes of which where meant to offer protection to those who travel. More specifically, those who travel the gate system. It was a shame to bag it up and dump it into storage and so Daniel had woven it into the band to fashion a wristband but had never been given the chance to present it to his comrade.

"Can't believe its been three months," Daniel muttered as he knelt by the wooden cross. "I would have come back sooner but, you know how it is." A gentle wind blew, cooling his damp skin and he resisted the shiver that tried to engulf him. "I-I wanted to say thank you, wish so much it could be in person but, I can't." He forced himself to smile as he could feel the choking sensation gripping his throat. "You came for me and won't ever forget that."

The sound of twigs breaking interrupted his revere and Daniel stood straight turning just in time to see Issac Hawkins step out of the tree line. The young Sergeant stopped dead, not seeming to notice Daniel stood there till the last moment. His dark eyes studied the civilian and for a long few seconds Daniel wasn't sure what to say. The last time they spoke had been at the memorial service. Since then he had seen the man around the SGC but their respective assignments kept them from ever having to interact. Daniel wasn't sure if that was by design or just coincidence.

"Sergeant Hawkins," Daniel cleared his throat not realising it had closed up. "I'm sorry I didn't think anyone else was here-"

"It's fine. I'm done here anyway." The Sergeant clearly hadn't moved on and Daniel desperately wanted to help him. Despite Hawkins claim that Daniel didn't understand loss, he did, but he wasn't about to list the people he had taken from him in some form or another, it wasn't a contest and Daniel was afraid that's how it might be perceived if Hawkins was still raw.

So all Daniel could do was watch as the Sergeant strode past, head up and hands on his P90 as he continued on to his patrol, taking a right and vanishing beyond the wall of the cliff heading up to the lookout above.

"Well that wasn't awkward at all." Daniel muttered to himself and turned back to face the wooden epitaph with a sigh. He stood a little longer, saying all he needed to say in his mind. That he was sorry, thankful and missing his friend. Considering the many languages he could speak, none of them could convey exactly what he wanted to say. It was a problem he had encountered on many occasions. No matter the words, the language used, despite the versatility of the tools he had available, Daniel had never been able to find the right words. There simply were none. All he could hope was that those he had loved and lost, would some how know. That where ever they where, there was a way to understand the jumbled thoughts and emotions he himself couldn't put into order.

The woven leather band he held was no weight at all yet somehow it felt like a tonne. The symbolism of such a simple thing like a load on his own conscience. It was goodbye.

Swallowing thickly, Daniel took a step towards the memorial preparing to tie the hand woven band to a free space upon the cross when the sound of boots scuffling drew his attention and he turned just in time to see a hefty wooden club come swinging at him. The bludgeon struck the archaeologist around the left side of the head, sending Daniel spinning to fall face first into the dirt. He had an idea who it was attacking him but couldn't lift his pounding head high enough from the ground to confirm, not that he wanted to as even in his daze he became aware of a shadow falling across him as his assailant moved in to finish the job.

The irony didn't escape him and despite the situation Daniel smiled.

_'Stay within the base perimeter at all times.'_

Jack's words floated to the surface of the chaos within his mind and the civilian absently wondered if his friend had taken into account those within their own ranks who might want him dead. He was starting to wonder if he should have had that talk with Hawkins sooner rather than later, as it was clear the man still held a grudge, big enough to do something about it.

Sensing the finishing blow was about to come, Daniel let his eyes slowly close. If he had the strength and the use of his body to prevent it, he might have done something more but as it was, he just didn't want to feel the pain.

Oblivion awaited him and Daniel couldn't help but wonder what laid beyond. He had been dead before but he couldn't actually recall anything upon being alive once more. Was there truly nothing? No lost loved ones waiting to welcome him back into their arms? It was a thought that frightened him more than anything else in his entire life and before his vision blacked out completely he struggled against the edges, pushing it back...just in time to see a flash of something alien and very familiar come charging from the woods.

... ... ... ...

From what Jack had seen so far, he was impressed. Hawthorn had put together a good team and was doing a sound job of heading the operation. The area was secure, with regular patrols and all bases were covered with lots of explosives should they need to move out quickly. No one was permitted near the lake and water rations were collected daily from the SGC rather than gathered locally and treated. The science types were singing from the same song sheet too and adhering to the rules put in place. Jack found himself admiring his friend for the hard work and dedication he had clearly shown.

"Hank, I'm proud of you." Jack stated as they headed back to the main area where Carter was busy trying out her new doohickey. "I know you weren't thrilled when I recommended you for the post but-"

"Forget it Jack, honestly I was pissed as hell when it landed in my lap but after being briefed on just what we might have found here, I'm honoured you selected me for the job." Hawthorn shrugged. "Only thing that could make this better is to be able to get Earth side more often to see the family."

"And you will." Jack declared proudly. "I told you, Hank, anything you need."

"I thought you meant in terms of supplies and people."

"Anything." The Colonel smiled as he reiterated his earlier point. "You'll need to officially announce a second-in-command. Someone you can trust to over-see the project while you're on Earth, other than that, consider it done."

Their conversation came to an abrupt end when a shout echoed from the other side of the clearing and the two commanding officers picked up the pace, running to meet the hysterical Dr Wilder. The guy was running for his life, shouting for help but when help arrived he couldn't seem to spit it out through trying to catch his breath. The shorter man seemed to double up, holding his chest and Jack hoped to God he wasn't having some kind of heart related problem. That could be very bad.

"James, come on spit it out." Hawthorn said, leading the breathless academic aside and offered him his canteen. After a good swig of water, the civilian seemed more in control and while he still struggled to get his breath, he managed to force out one word. One that had Jack's stomach twisting in dread.

"Unas..." Wilder sucked in another breath before continuing. "I-I saw an Unas."

"Are you sure?" Hawthorn asked.

"Positive. It was on the east side, near the memorial. It was, carrying something."

"Something?" Jack asked and started looking around for his team. Carter was still under the canopy and Teal'c was already making his way over to see what all the commotion was about.

"It could have been someone, the colour..."

"Do a head count Major," Jack ordered, first names no longer in use as both men slipped back easily into professional soldier. "Daniel, come in. We have sightings of an Unas." Teal'c arrived at that moment, his brow rising in that way when he found something either fascinating or surprising. In this case it was likely the later. "Daniel?" Radio silence was never a good sign and the ill feeling in the pit of his stomach grew a notch.

"Excuse me," Wilder put his hand up, like a child in class and Jack had to use all the self control he had to remain civil.

"Spit it out." The Colonel said calmly.

"Dr Jackson was at the memorial just a few minutes ago."

"Isn't that where you saw the damn Unas!?" Jack was already striding towards the area, readying his weapon and waving Carter to join them.

"Well yes but..."

"So help me..."

By the time they reached the memorial it was clear by the signs in the dirt that there had been a scuffle. Teal'c was the resident tracker, but the blood was a sure indication someone was hurt. The Colonel blew out a frustrated breath as Teal'c collected something from the bloodied dirt and Jack recognised it as belonging to their now missing archaeologist. He had wandered into Daniel's office one morning and spotted his friend studying the leather band intently. He didn't ask what it was and ignored the fact the civilian quickly hid it away in his desk drawer before covering up his thoughtful expression with the usual banter and working like his life depended on it.

"What the hell, is he like candy to these blasted things or what!?" Jack grabbed his radio a second time and opened up a channel. "Hey Unas! KA!" It was the only word he could remember Daniel having taught him, so he spoke through the radio as if he would a dog that had done something wrong. He didn't think it would accomplish much but it made him feel marginally better. "Alright, Teal'c think you can pick up the trail?"

"It is fresh but we must move quickly. Even carrying a load, the Unas can cover vast distances."

"Alright, Carter stay here and be ready to use that...thingy. Can't think of a better way to see if the damn thing works than a live field test." Jack shook his head and turned to Hawthorn. "Can you spare a couple of guys?"

"Begging your pardon, sirs, but are you serious?" Jack looked up hearing an all to familiar voice. Issac Hawkins came and stood beside his CO, expression for the most part neutral but there was a edge to the tone of his voice and a coldness in his eyes that Jack didn't like. Of course the Colonel might have been just a little bias, after all, he didn't like him and he guessed the feeling was mutual.

"Of course I'm serious. I'm always serious. Well, for the most part." He kept his own tone light.

"You realise, sir what happened last time, is because the guy got himself carted off by one of these things?"

"Hawkins, since I lead that particular search and rescue and wrote the damned report there-after, I'm fairly sure you already know the answer to that question."

"So you're prepared to put more lives in danger for him, again, sir?"

The use of sir was having a very odd affect on Jack's temper. While it was no doubt used to provoke the Colonel, Jack simply smiled and turned to Hawthorn.

"I'll take Hawkins. Who else can you spare?"

"You got me, Jack," Hawthorn cast a disappointed look in the direction of Hawkins who now looked even more infuriated at being volunteered for the search. "Lead on."

... ... ... ...

Watching the humans had become something of an obsession for Chaka. The former Alpha male had found that his feet no longer felt a secure path beneath them. He was torn. Even if he had been strong enough to protect his claim as Alpha, Chaka no longer wanted that life. So he wandered his world, at home with his own thoughts and comfortable alone.

Since the encounter with the human, Dan'el, Chaka had questioned more and more his own life. Life in the tribe meant to exist. Chaka wanted to live.

Even in the short space of time, Dan'el had taught him so much. He had been the only human in his tribes history to speak Unas words, to understand Unas ways. Even when faced with his own demise, all Chaka could see in those strange sky-coloured eyes was a wonder and a hunger that longed not for food or power, he wished to learn, wished to understand and Chaka had wanted to show Dan'el the wonders of his people.

It had been many days and nights since Dan'el had left through the great stone gateway, he had shadowed the small band of humans as they escorted his friend back to his own world, hands bound, like a prisoner. Chaka had been confused by this. While Chaka had bound Dan'el it was to prevent escape, Dan'el was pray at the time but over the course of their journey, Dan'el had become much more. He was the solution to his people's pitiful existence. They could have learned much from this human.

So watching as Dan'el was marched back, like he was pray to his own kind, confused the young Unas. He did not act rashly. Dan'el had made his choice and there had been reason enough for that, reasons he had vowed to respect.

On one particularly wet afternoon, the great stone gateway came to life once again, and the humans of Dan'el's tribe stepped through. Chaka watched as they set up their structures in the same location they had the first time and he found himself wondering what was there they found so interesting. He watched for days, but saw no sign of Dan'el but he was content to watch over his tribe, trying to piece together the reasons for their actions. Their words continued to be strange but he recognised some to have been used by Dan'el.

Just when he had given up hope of ever seeing Dan'el again, there he was and Chaka wanted nothing more than to approach and welcome him as a brother and friend, to atone for the wrong he had done during his previous visit. But the humans had weapons, ones that could cause severe harm to his kind. If what he remembered to be true, it was only because of the human's weapons he was able to defeat Cha'nik and assume the mantle of Neetu, leader of his tribe. He did not wish the same fate to befall Chaka, not when his eyes had been opened. So once more, he contented himself with merely observing.

He watched his human friend, speaking his strange words to an alter of tokens and words. The meaning was lost on the young Unas, but this was not the first time he had witnessed the humans of this small band, gather around the wooden structure, placing trophies of some kind, like an offering. While confusion reined in his mind, he was also in awe of these people. There structures, weapons, garments and alters seemed so much better than anything his people had ever constructed, he wanted to change that.

Chaka had remained very still, especially when a second human appeared, emerging from the woods close to where Chaka lay hidden. He listened and watched, relieved when the human left and Daniel was once again focused on the alter before him.

Dan'el seemed sad. His energy and spark were gone. Clearly the alters meaning was much more important than Chaka could ever hope to understand and he found himself mesmerised by the actions of the human.

Being focused on Dan'el he did not see the second figure approach and it was only as his human friend hit the ground, blood spilling from the bludgeoning to the head that Chaka rose and ran to protect the fallen human. He lashed out, striking the assailant in the chest and hurtling him back into the ground, the blood stained log falling from his hands. Chaka growled down at the whimpering fool, watching him scuttle away before staggering to his feet and fleeing the scene. The young Unas had expected to hear the call for help, like he had done the last time he charged into a group like this, but all was silent.

Clearly Dan'el was not safe with these people and as he turned to inspect the fallen man, it only confirmed that first thought. Dan'el was unconscious, with a large gash to the left side of his head, just above his eye. Blood rained down his face as Chaka turned his prone body so he could inspect him more closely. There was no movement and no sound and had Chaka not sensed the slightness of the breath leaving his body, he would have presumed Dan'el dead.

"Dan'el?" He spoke the name softly as he cradled the human in his arms, but there was no reply. The strange red blood continued to flow and Chaka's nose tingled with the metallic taint of it. Dan'el was hurt, struck down by one of his own and before he had been bound and marched away, like an enemy. Anger at the suffering Dan'el had endured filled him and Chaka rose, lifting Dan'el as he done so, cradling him in both arms and careful of the injury. He had to get him some where safe, before anyone realised he was gone.


	4. Between a Rock and an Unas

**Chapter Four: Between a Rock and an Unas.**

Even with the minimal head start and a load to carry, the Unas had managed to put a sizable distance between it, and the search party. Despite his high level of fitness, Jack was finding it hard to close that distance. He kept pushing the team on, the thing had to stop at some point. As strong as it was, it was still technically a juvenile and had to be flagging by now.

Teal'c continued to lead the way, following the deep tracks, indicative that it was still carrying Daniel, and the occasional smear of blood, indicative that Daniel was still alive.

Hawthorn was as professional as ever, alternating with Jack in watching the six, while Hawkins simply followed their lead. Neither speaking out of turn or offering any options and the Colonel was starting to regret bringing him along. But something had to be done about the kids attitude. He seemed to think he was owed something, that his role, his life was more valuable than that of Daniel's. It wasn't that Daniel was more important than anyone else, Jack wanted to prove that everyone who served under his command was a valuable as the man standing beside him. No one was left behind, ever, and it was something he would do for anyone, even this punk. He'd been the one left behind and it wasn't a fate he would wish on his worst enemy.

"O'Neill!" Jack jogged ahead to Teal'c as the Jaffa called out to him in the usual way. He broke through the quickly thinning brush and came face to face with a stream, the waters of which were not deep but fast flowing. It would be easily crossed but he knew that wasn't the reason Teal'c had alerted the Colonel.

"S'up?"

"It would appear the Unas is trying to throw us off his trail." Jack closed his eyes and shook his head in disbelief.

"What?"

"There," Teal'c indicated the smear of blood across one of the rocks further up-stream. "And there." The Jaffa pointed out another further along the same bank, heading to higher ground but Jack still wasn't following.

"Okay, so they went that-a-way."

"They did not. The Unas did, for a short time. See his tracks here?" Teal'c lowered and with gentle fingers traced the distinctive tracks. "They are shallow. Here, he no longer carries DanielJackson, yet we are expected to believe he does, because of the blood trail."

"So he dropped Daniel some place and back tracked to leave a false trail?"

"That is correct, O'Neill."

"Sneaky son-of-a-bitch."

"Indeed." Jack pulled off his cap and ran a hand through his wet hair before replacing it.

"You know, I cant help be feel a little bit, tiny, amount of respect for the damn thing."

"You should, O'Neill. We are, as you say, on its home turf. If we do not grant the creature the respect it deserves, things could end very badly for all of us."

"Got it." The Colonel swallowed thickly, not liking the sound of that one bit and slowly rose back to full height. "So, think you can pick up real the trail?"

"I will need but a few minutes."

"Alright, do your thing, T." Jack turned to Hawthorn and Hawkins who had just emerged from the tree line a moment ago, both eyeing the water warily. "Relax, its not deep enough. Pull up a rock and take five, Teal'c needs to find the trail."

"How long are we expected to do this, sir?" Jack turned and fixed the Sergeant with a glare.

"As long as it takes."

... ... ... ...

With the greatest of care, Chaka collected the unconscious Dan'el from the ground and cradling him once more in both arms, he began his journey anew. It had taken him many steps and placed him in considerable danger to back track like he did and plant the false trail. He knew it would likely only buy him a little time, but at this point, with the human tribe closing in, he had to take what he could get. He was doing what he could to make it hard to be tracked, covering his trail and walking up and down the various streams and brooks, as well as attending to the wound that marked Dan'el.

Chaka had found a familiar piece of cloth scrunched up and hanging from one of the compartments in the armour Dan'el wore. He had seen Dan'el wear this piece about his head during their last encounter. At first Chaka thought it was for protection, but it did not protect him well enough when the young Unas had charged at him on that fateful day. Now that he held it, Chaka could seen why. It was nothing but fabric and not a very hard wearing one at that. Still, it was large enough to wrap around Dan'el's head and tie off, applying pressure to the gash and stemming the flow of the crimson that marked their trail. Dan'el had also groaned, having felt the pain and Chaka had to read this as a good sign.

Steering towards the woodlands once more, Chaka picked up the pace, negotiating the terrain with ease even with the weight of the man in his arms. He had explored most of this region since he had left his tribe. For as long as he could remember it had been forbidden to set foot into these threes. He did not know why and when he had questioned his elders, they had not been able to provide him with a straight answer. Merely that they were dangerous. No longer a prisoner of his own superstition, Chaka had boldly entered the forbidden woods and found nothing at all of interest. Just a lot of rocks, most of which had been placed upon one another to erect some kind of tower, but the woods had long ago claimed the rocks for itself and vines and roots now ran through the grey angular stones.

It was here Chaka had made his home, nestled between two of the grey stones, which measured to more than twice his height. A longer beam ran across the top of the stones, creating shelter from the rain and Chaka had removed the debris and dirt from inside before moving in. He had his animal skin blankets and made a comfortable bed at the rear of the little cove, while the rest of his belongings consisted of his woven rope, animal bones ready to be carved into edges or points, to make weapons for hunting. There was a fresh kill hanging on a nearby tree having long ago drained of the blood, which he had gathered in a crude wooden bowl that hung from the rodents slit throat. There was much goodness in the blood, he could make it into a delicious paste.

Chaka entered his home and placed Dan'el on the bed. Still the man did not wake.

"Dan'el?" Chaka called gently to his friend and with a large clawed hand, he poked the human's chest. He was rewarded with another groan and this time Dan'els features altered slightly. The brows that framed his still closed eyes creased slightly, before relaxing once more. Another good sign to be sure and Chaka pulled the warm blankets down over the man, before standing once again.

Night was drawing in and he would need to start a fire. But night also brought a blessing. The men following would have to pause. Chaka had taken great care to hide his tracks between here and the streams, it would be difficult to track him during the day, impossible by night. It gave Chaka all the time he would need to prepare.

... ... ... ...

As promised Teal'c only required a few minutes to pick up the trail and they were walking once again. It didn't seem as smooth going as the first leg of the journey, Teal'c often had to pause and read the signs in the ground to be sure they were not being led once more in the wrong direction. It was during one of these pauses that Jack realised it was getting dark and he cursed their luck before patting Teal'c upon the shoulder seeing the Jaffa stand to full height.

"It's gonna be dark soon," The Colonel stated to which Teal'c simply nodded.

"It will be difficult to track during the night."

"But not impossible right?" He asked hopefully.

"It is not a chance I would like to take O'Neill, the Unas is taking more and more precautions by masking his tracks. He knows we are following. If I loose his trail in the dark, it will be almost impossible to pick it up again."

"I was afraid you'd say that," The Colonel sighed and plodded wearily back towards Hawthorn who was sat taking a drink from his canteen while Hawkins patrolled their rest stop, P90 at the ready. "Okay, go to ground, boots on." He blinked. "Wow, Deja'vu."

"You're only just realising this now, sir?" Hawkins spat and shook his head before taking a seat, his back against one of the many trees.

"Two words, Hawkins." Jack said as he strode past the Sergeant to take up the first watch of the night. "Thin. Ice."

... ... ... ...

Okay, moving had been a bad idea. He probably should have tried to open his eyes first, but since his last thought continued where it left off, he was trying to escape from being pulverised into mush.

"Dan'el!" Even with his eyes still closed he knew who that was and the civilian slowly lifted his head from the dirt, an act made harder by the fact it not only hurt like hell, but it felt like a tonne weight.

"Cha-ka!" He had started to call the Unas' name, but as the juvenile reached to help Daniel back onto what seemed to be a bed, the sudden movement brought a stabbing pain that shot through the left side of his head and face. "Ka, ka..." He reiterated the point and Chaka seemed to understand, letting Daniel go and sat back simply watching as the civilian slowly straightened himself, propped up against the stone slab that had been covered in some animal skins, one of which was still tangled around his feet.

"Dan'el, itey," Chaka slowly reached forward to touch the tender area around Daniel's left eye and the civilian slowly opened his eyes, still quite breathless with the effort of moving and trying not to vomit. "Dan'el, itey." Chaka repeated and Daniel slowly realised what the Unas was trying to say.

"Yes, Daniel hurt. Dan'el, itey." He repeated Chaka's words to confirm he had understood and filed the new word away for later use, assuming the concussion he undoubtedly had would allow him to remember any of this.

"Chaka an'tack Dan'el." This time there was no motion or gesture to help Daniel understand and the confused look the dazed linguist gave the Unas seemed to get that message across. Chaka held up his right hand and indicated a small scar. "Dan'el an'tack Chaka,"

Daniel searched his memory realising the significance of the scar. The Unas had been shot during his raid on base camp three months ago, the wound had continued to bother Chaka but with some convincing, the native Unas had allowed Daniel to remove the bullet and finally allow the wound to heal.

"Yes, Daniel helped, Chaka." He smiled kindly. "Dan'el an'tack, Chaka." Again Daniel committed the word to memory.

The young Unas made an approving grunt, obviously pleased that Daniel understood.

"Chaka an'tack, Dan'el." Chaka reached forward to indicate the head injury and Daniel, while touched by the concern and wish to help, he wasn't sure this was something Chaka could treat. But how to convey that with provoking an unwanted response, or even hurt his feelings?

"Chaka," Daniel began, having to close his eyes briefly as the room had started to spin. "Dan'el itey, Daniel hurt. Humans an'tack Dan'el. My people can help me."

"Ka," Chaka shook his head as if disgusted, annoyed.

"So much for not hurting your feelings..."

"Human, itey Dan'el."

"Human hurt me?" Daniel frowned and tentatively probed the left side of his head as he tried to remember. He hadn't been able to see who it was that struck him, it had happened too fast, but he knew it wasn't Chaka. The last thing he saw before he knew no more was the Unas rushing from cover after the attack began. "And you helped me, you saved me."

"Chaka an'tack, Dan'el." His Unas friend again reached forward and got two giant hands under Daniel's shoulders and slowly lifted the still very dazed and confused civilian from the ground. Daniel squeezed his eyes shut as the movement, no matter how gentle sent his head spinning in a nauseating way. His hands weakly clung to anything he could get a hold of as he struggled to ground himself and cease the motion of his surroundings. The elevated position done little to comfort him, the fact his ass was now dry was overshadowed by the fact he could feel the blood thump furiously in his head. Daniel felt himself sway where he sat and only a well placed hand from Chaka kept him from tumbling off his perch.

"T-Thanks..." Daniel gasped out, feeling his mouth filling with water as his stomach protested being handled in such a way. He swallowed hoping somehow to keep hold of its contents. The last thing he wanted to do was puke all over his friends nice clean floors. "Chaka, I really need to..." Chaka gazed at him oddly and Daniel closed his eyes to focus on what he needed to say. It was getting harder to concentrate but he had to stay with it. For a start he needed to know where he was so he could let the others know.

The others.

How long had he been gone?

Carefully Daniel lifted his arm to check the time, seeing that at least five hours had gone by and he groaned pitifully.

"Jack's gonna kill me."

"Ka! Chaka wukta humans. An'tack Dan'el." The young Unas pushed Daniel down into the animal skins and the civilian didn't have it in him to resist. He whimpered as his head thumped and he reached up to nurse the afflicted area.

"Wukta? What is wukta?" He cracked his eyes open just in time to see Chaka hold up what looked like a weapon. It was a crude knife fashioned from a smooth stone, the edges of which had been carved into a jagged tip. "Weapon...death? Kill?!" Daniel sat up shaking his head and immediately fell back. "Oh god that was a real bad idea..."

"Nona-ke." Daniel felt the weight of the animal skins fall around him as Chaka pulled them over the stricken human.

"No, I can't rest." Daniel forced his eyes to open once more just as Chaka started to grind some kind of plant between two rocks, both of which where smooth, no doubt taken from a stream or river. One was shaped oddly, the erosion of the water having created a concave, making it into a sort of bowl. It was this Chaka used to grind the deep red leaves into a paste. "Chaka, ka-wukta humans. You can't kill my friends."

"Humans keka!"

"No-ka. Humans aren't dangerous." Chaka again shook his head, the grunts and growls far from threatening, he was simply confused. Everything Daniel was saying obviously contradicted what he himself had witnessed. "Chaka, please..." Daniel couldn't think of anything else to say as he met the Unas' eyes. Chaka grunted and turned back to his task, grinding the leaves he had gathered.

This was bad. If Daniel didn't find a way to explain to Chaka that while he had been attacked by one of his own kind, that didn't mean all of his people had it in for him, there was no telling who or how many people could be hurt. Though he had to admit, having Chaka on side when Jack came to vent his frustration at having to trek across the same alien landscape to rescue him a second time from the same Unas, was a definite plus. What he needed was a way to tell Jack that Chaka wasn't a threat...

And then he realised.

"I have my radio..." He felt like a fool for not realising sooner but if he was being honest, he wasn't at his best right now. Chaka was caught up in his work and so Daniel opened up a channel. "Daniel Jackson, to SG-1, come in please..."

... ... ... ...

It had gotten dark some time ago and the four man search party huddled together for warmth around a small fire. Teal'c was now on watch and the two members of SG-12 were sleeping just to Jack's left. The Colonel himself couldn't sleep, he was to angry. Angry that once again they were in an almost identical situation to that of three months ago. And Daniel wondered why he didn't want to come back!?

Jack sighed and looked up at the sky barely visible beyond the thick canopy above.

"Trouble sleeping?" The voice drew the Colonel from his thoughts and he turned to look at the young Sergeant Hawkins as he sat up rubbing his eyes.

"Kinda. Why are you up?"

"Same." Jack studied the face of the man, three months ago he looked so different, in that short amount of time he had aged years. Clearly the loss of his brother had hurt him more than even he realised and Jack suddenly understood what Daniel had seen back then.

"Listen, I know you've heard it all. How sorry everyone is for your loss."

"Yeah, and I don't need to hear it again."

"Good cos I wasn't gonna say it."

"Oh you know another done to death cliche?'

"You ask anyone, I hate cliche's." Jack smirked and continued. "I heard it all before myself. I could give you a dozen of them."

"Please don't." Hawkins jaw seemed to tense as he stoked the small flames and added more branches.

"Again, wasn't going to." Jack sat forward meeting the others mans eyes. "The way you behaved at the memorial was a disgrace. People are prepared to overlook that behaviour because they feel sorry for you, because they can understand how angry you feel, even the man you blamed understood, probably better than most."

"Of course he did." Hawkins sniggered and shook his head.

"Yeah, he did. But you know what, even after all the crap he's taken, after all the people he's lost, not once has he let it change him, like you let it." Hawkins didn't look up from the fire, nor did he respond and so Jack continued. "You wanna know why I tried to stop you that day? It wasn't to protect Daniel, Daniel's all grown up and he is more than capable of fighting his own battles. I done it for your brother, for Dale, who was a damn good man and an even better soldier."

"Again I know all this I don't need to hear it from-"

"Oh I think you do, because from what I've seen, you don't have a damn clue what any of that means." Jack stood up, his anger at the man now to much to bare, but it had to be said so he wasn't about to stop now. "You wanna know why I'm prepared to do all this again for the same guy? Not because he's special or even a friend. Because he is one of us. And we do not leave our people behind. It was something your brother believed in, something he risked his life more than once to ensure. Risked it pulling your ass out of the fire too.

"You might wear the uniform and carry the gun, but you know something? While he's a civilian egg-head, who gets far to wrapped up in dusty tomes and hunks of rock, Daniel is more of a soldier than you'll ever be if you don't get your act together." The Colonel hoped he had given the Sergeant something to think about, enough to make him reconsider the attitude and subordination he'd seen all over his personal file in the last few month. He hated to see people loose their way so was only to happy to step in and kick them into touch with some tough love. Trouble was, it didn't always work.

Jack stepped around the camp fire and moved to relieve Teal'c when his radio burst to life.

_"Daniel Jackson to SG-1, come in please..."_

The Colonel very nearly had kittens as he grabbed the radio to respond. "Daniel! It's about damned time!" Teal'c lifted his brow with a smile, glad like Jack to hear from their missing team mate.

_"Hey Jack, I'm fine thanks for asking."_

"I'm sorry, hey Daniel, how are you ol-buddie-ol-pal?" He shurgged, rolling his eyes at Teal'c who for the most part tried to remain neutral.

_"Oh fine, bit of a headache," _Jack had known the younger man for a long time and he knew without needing to see the guy that the headache he was admitting to, was likely a head injury of some kind. The look of concern was shared by the Jaffa.

"The blood we have seen maybe from his head injury." Teal'c added quietly obviously coming to the same conclusion as the Colonel.

"Daniel, we've seen enough of your blood on the way out here to indicate you're anything but 'fine' so cut the crap and report."

_"Well..." _Daniel's voice was weak as he began. _"I lied, its a stonking, great, big headache and I have no idea where I am, but I'm not alone..."_

"We figured as much, Wilder reported seeing an Unas running from the camp around the time you done your vanishing act."

_"James didn't happen to see who attacked me did he?" _Okay, that wasn't a question Jack expected. Maybe Daniel's head injury was responsible for this confusion, since it seemed pretty obvious that it was the Unas who had attacked and carted him off, just like last time.

"Like I said, Wilder seen an Unas..."

_"Chaka didn't attack me, Jack..."_

"Chaka!? Isn't that the one who-"

_"Yes Jack, he's the same one." _Again Daniel's voice trailed off in to a weary sigh.

"Daniel-"

_"Jack, please just listen...I don't know how long I-" _The channel suddenly closed and Jack waited a moment before he tried again.

"Daniel, stay with me buddie..."

_"..orry. Chaka didn't attack me. Someone at base camp did...Chaka saw it happen, it's why he brought me here, to protect me."_

"He told you this?"

_"As a matter of fact, yes. I've been trying to explain to him that, not everyone wants to kill me...he doesn't seem to want to take that chance."_

Jack had to admit, the more he heard about this Unas, the more he was starting to like it.

"Who would have cause to harm DanielJackson?" Teal'c asked softly, aware of the two members of SG-12 not to far away, one of whom had already held a grudge against the civilian. Jack read the subtle way Teal'c glanced towards the camp fire and couldn't think of any reason not to assume it had been Hawkins.

_"J'ck..." _Daniel's voice was even weaker. _"I need...I need you to do something for me..."_

"You are _not _getting another memorial. It's my company policy to only do one freebie!" There was laughter from the radio followed by a groan and a curse.

_"Make me laugh again...and you're gonna have to make it two freebies... but that's not what I need you to do." _There was a pause as Daniel took a moment to calm down. His breathing had sounded a little labored and the Colonel felt completely helpless.

"What do you need, Danny?" He asked in a soft voice, his tone serious.

_"Don't...don't hurt Chaka..."_

"Daniel, you're obviously in need of immediate medical attention, I'm not about to go tip-toeing around your pal just to spare its damn feelings!"

_"I'm serious..."_

"So am I!"

_"Too loud..." _Daniel groaned pitifully and Jack immediately felt guilty.

"Sorry..." Jack sighed. "Listen, I'll do my best, but if it comes down between choosing him or you, the Unas looses every damn time, Danny." He knew Daniel wouldn't like his answer but there was very little the Colonel could do about that. He wasn't about to loose a friend. Not this time.


	5. The Trouble with First Impressions

**Chapter Five: The Problem With First Impressions.**

It confused Chaka. How Dan'el could converse with something that, clearly wasn't alive and yet, the strange human words spilled forth from the device in Dan'els hand. The young Unas watched from his position near the fire as he continued to grind the medicinal fauna. His people called them Keku'nat. Number of pain. There were many such plants in the surrounding woods and upon their arrival at his home, Chaka had quickly gathered enough to make the sticky paste that would not only soothe the humans injury, but promote the wound to heal. Chaka had no idea how or why this particular plant could do this, all he knew was what he had been taught by the elders when preparing for his initiation.

After a few minutes the paste was ready and Chaka gathered the sticky red substance and placed it on a large enough leaf and shuffled back towards the bed where Dan'el now slept. He grunted as his foot caught the device Dan'el had just been using. The human, clearly exhausted, had let it slip from his hand which now hung limply over the edge of the bed.

"Dan'el?" He softly called out his name and when he got no response he placed his free hand on the humans chest and gently shook. Dan'el moaned and slowly lifted his head to turn in the young Unas' direction. The fabric Chaka had bound around Dan'els head was soaked with his blood but no longer looked fresh and it certainly did not smell fresh anymore. Setting the loaded leaf aside for the moment, Chaka first had to clean the wound, expose the wound completely to the ointment when it was applied. The fabric was difficult to untie, the blood had expanded the knot but Chaka eventually managed to free it. The once green fabric fell away to reveal a large gash just above the left brow, running off to the side of the head. It had stopped bleeding but there was a lot of dried blood and dirt that needed to be cleaned away before he could apply the ointment.

By now Dan'el had awoke and two bright blue eyes gazed up at the Unas.

"Chak-" Dan'el weakly called his name and Chaka simply reached out and placed his hand back on the humans chest.

"Chaka an'tack Dan'el." He hoped the words offered his friend some comfort as there would be some pain before any good could be done for him. Taking the crimson stained fabric, Chaka submerged it in the water he had warmed by the fire. The water instantly ran red but this was not a problem. Squeezing out the excess, Chaka started to gently wipe away the worst of the dried blood and grime, revealing a tapestry of colour on the once pale skin of his friend. He had not seen this kind of injury before. Unas did not discolour this way when hurt, clearly humans were very different. At first the young Unas thought this colour could be wiped away, like the blood and dirt, but these stains appeared to be under the skin. Very odd.

A hiss from below startled Chaka and he snatched his hand away, concerned he had caused Dan'el more harm than good and while it appeared to have hurt him a little, it was not enough to do any serious harm.

"Kek'kay." Chaka appologised but Dan'el didn't seem to understand, he was clearly still to confused.

After a few minutes cleaning the wound, Chaka applied to ointment, using the leaf as a means to keep it in place and after tying the make shift gauze into place with the softest leather strap he had, Chaka sat back by the fire content to let Dan'el rest.

Morning was only a few hours away and with first light, he knew the humans tracking them would begin their quest anew. They were many and he was but one Unas. But he would do all he could to protect his human friend.

... ... ... ...

It had been an hour since they had last heard from Daniel and all attempts to raise him had been unsuccessful. With morning just a few short hours away and knowing what he now did, there was no way in hell the Colonel was getting any sleep now.

He and Daniel had something of an unusual friendship since their first time through the gate, yet despite their differences and all the things that should put them at odds, Jack had come to view the flaky civilian as his very best friend. Its what made situations like the one they faced that much harder. It wasn't the peril or the fact that any time they set through the gate could be their last. It was the times when they disagreed so passionately about a view the other might take. Like now.

Jack wanted nothing more than to be able to give Daniel exactly what he wanted, but more than that, Jack also wanted to get Daniel what he needed and in this case it was medical care. The fact Daniel hadn't been back on the radio for over an hour wasn't a good sign. He'd either lost consciousness, had the radio removed by self-proclaimed Daniel guardian, Chaka. Or worse still. He could already be dead. That was not a scenario he wanted to entertain right now and he busied himself with getting ready for moving out

"I am most concerned with the recent revelation, O'Neill. Should we not take measures to ensure Sergeant Hawkins does not attempt to harm DanielJackson again?" Teal'c was all set to go, the only thing stopping him was the fact they couldn't see a damn thing.

"What's that?" Hawthorn asked and Jack turned to his old friend with a sigh. Hawkins was beside his CO, obviously having heard the comment too and Jack shot Teal'c a pointed look. For his part Teal'c seemed glad it was out in the open, and the former first prime pinned Hawkins with a look that could sour long-life milk.

"DanielJackson believes Sergeant Hawkins made an attempt on his life."

"Are you fucking serious?" Hawkins spat, squaring up to Teal'c and not wanting their only suspect to become nothing more than a very pretty stain, Jack intervened.

"Daniel Jackson has also suffered a massive head injury, I would just like to point that out."

"DanielJackson stated that the Unas, Chaka witnessed the attack, which is why he abducted him."

"Witnessed _a _attack." Jack looked to Teal'c who merely raised a brow.

"So what, some freaky alien, flea-bag said I tried to kill the guy?!" Hawkins demanded.

"No one has said such a thing." Teal'c began, meeting Hawkins gaze confidently. "But you yourself have publicly accused DanielJackson of being the cause of your brothers demise, perhaps this attack was retribution for this preposterous belief."

"That was three months ago, if I was gonna off the guy why would I wait-"

"Perhaps this has been the only opportunity since that time."

"Hold it," Hawthorn stepped in as Jack gave up trying to settle it diplomatically and turned away throwing his hands up to the heavens. "Did Dr Jackson, specifically name Hawkins as his attacker?"

"He did not."

"And what proof do you have that Hawkins may have committed the crime?"

"I have none." Teal'c said some what deflated.

"Then, I'm sorry Teal'c but the way our system works is, a man is innocent until proven guilty. Not the other way around."

"Thank you, sir." Hawkins said but was quickly put back in his place.

"That doesn't mean you're off the hook. Obviously something serious has happened here and while there's no evidence against you, your previous actions make you a suspect."

"Sir."

"I suggest we focus on getting Dr Jackson back home, safe, before we rush blindly into anything else." Jack turned to Hawthorn with a grateful smile.

"I agree!" The Colonel declared with enthusiasm. "And this is the situation as I see it. Chaka took Daniel because he was trying to protect him from, who ever it might have been that attacked him."

"It wasn't me, sir." Hawkins said and Jack couldn't be sure why, but he believed him.

"We're not getting into who or why, like Hank said, getting Daniel back is our priority. Now this Unas thinks we're a threat to Daniel, and he may put up a struggle. Zatts only, I'm not about to gun down this thing when all its done is help one of our guys. But that aside, this Unas might be our only way of identifying Daniel's assailant."

"What if the assailant is present, would that not cause Chaka to fight that much harder, perhaps even kill the man on sight." Teal'c looked at Hawkins directly and Jack had to give the kid credit. He had balls because he just looked right back at the Jaffa with a steel gaze of his own.

"Then I guess we're lucky that guy isn't here, aren't we?"

"Getting back to the problem," Jack said firmly. "Teal'c, Hank, I need you guys to get back in range of base camp. Inform Carter we're going to need a medical team here as soon as possible. Hawkins and I will head on to Daniel."

"O'Neill," Teal'c obviously was very uncomfortable with this set up but the Colonel held his ground.

"That's an order, Teal'c." He kept his tone firm but he understood his friend concern. The trouble was, it had to go down this way. It was the only way the Colonel was going to be sure.

"Very well," Teal'c lifted his staff weapon. "The trail continues along that rock-shelf. When you get to the end, look for the signs I have showed you. And remain in contact."

"Don't worry." Jack grinned. "I got this."

"It is not you I am concerned about, O'Neill."

... ... ... ...

Daniel had no idea how long he had been out but the conversation was still fresh, or as fresh as it could be, in his concussed mind. He knew Jack would be true to his word, that he would try not to harm Chaka, but he also knew that Jack meant what he said about it coming down to a choice. It was this that broke the civilians hart.

The way Jack saw it, it was Daniel or Chaka and the choice was simple. A good friend, or a beast, untamed and uncivilized. To Daniel it was the choice between two lives of equal importance and value. He didn't, couldn't see a difference. He had said it before and he would continue to believe it until his dying day, he was no better or worse than anyone else and deserved no special treatment.

The civilian slowly opened his eyes and looked around, turning his head very carefully. The pain wasn't as bad as before, but it still throbbed and ached if he moved to fast. There was a peculiar smell emitting from his general area and he scrunched his nose, the odd aroma almost like a disinfectant. But that wasn't possible...

Chaka wasn't inside the little structure and the fire had now burnt down to embers, crackling softly as Daniel attempted to get up. He had thought they were in some kind of cave but the walls were to smooth, to angular, as was the rock above. There were no significant indications that this structure had been anything other than man-made, but it also seemed too shambolic in its arrangement. Ruins perhaps? The initial MALP images had shown no such structures within thirty or forty miles from the gate, but then a lot of the world was covered in woodland and jungle. It was possible that any structures had been claimed once more by nature.

Now Daniel had managed to get himself into a seated position, he waited for the slow rotation of the room to cease before daring to inspect his surroundings more closely. He was seated on yet another angular rock, which had been cushioned with thick, warm animal skins. He pulled the heavy pelt back to free his legs and swung them slowly off the side of the 'bed' but had to stop when the spinning started again and just like that, the nausea returned with a vengeance.

He knew none of this was a good sign and as he gently probed the area the pain was at its worst, he found a dressing of some kind. He vaguely remembered the young Unas standing over him, attending to the wound but Daniel had been too confused and sleepy to stop him. He knew Chaka had the very best intentions but Daniel was pretty sure he needed more qualified hands. Still, he had to admit, what ever Chaka had done had helped some what. The pain was no where near as bad and that aroma he had caught a moment ago appeared to be coming from a dark red paste he now found upon the tips of his fingers as he drew his hand away.

As terrible as he felt Daniel needed to have another conversation with Chaka. He had already explained to Jack what was really going on and he had his friends word that he would try to spare the Unas, now Daniel had to convince his scaly friend of the same.

With a deep breath Daniel slowly pushed up from the bed and willed his legs to hold him. They had the strength and standing was possible, but his head was the real problem. Soon as he was upright the civilian felt his balance shift and he was angling towards the rock wall. He managed to move his right leg and get it back under him, just as his hands planted the smooth wall. Ok, so walking unaided was a bad idea, but with the secure surface beside him, Daniel was able to negotiate his way towards the entrance of the hide-away. Every step was an effort, since every time he moved the room would tip and sway, making him feel like he was on a ship at sea. He focused on placing one heavy foot in front of the other and using the wall as both a guide and a crutch, he found himself squinting out into the light of day. The sun upped the ache in Daniel's head a little higher and he had to turn away. He couldn't see Chaka any where even after giving his sore eyes a minute to adjust.

"Chaka?" Daniel called out to the Unas, hoping he had come round in time but as he called out again he realised that was likely not the case and Chaka might have already left to do battle.

Daniel had to pull himself together and fast. He would never forgive himself if anyone, human or Unas, got hurt because of him.

... ... ... ...

It took no time at all to find the trail, and the Colonel smiled triumphantly as he gently moved the delicate stems of the plant that had been crushed under the foot of the Unas. Hawkins was about fifteen yards off to his right and he signaled the Sergeant with a silent hand gesture that they were on the right track. Hawkins nodded and slipped out of cover into the woodlands while Jack continued to, literally, follow in Chaka's footsteps.

The trail led deeper into the woods and while most of this world was covered in the green stuff, these particular trees seemed bigger, darker. Obviously a different type of tree than they had previously seen and that was it, but the Colonel couldn't help but feel just a little bit closed in, almost trapped. It could have been because he was expecting an enraged Unas to leap out at any moment and take his head clean off, but some how he knew this place was different.

After thirty minutes of carefully tracking the tell-tale signs, Jack pulled up beside the trunk of a rather large tree and opened a channel to Hawkins. With his left shoulder pressed against the tree, he had a pretty good view of his surroundings, but there were lots of places to hide and as Teal'c had said, this was the Unas' home turf.

"Anything?" He kept it brief, not wanting to do anything to give away their position.

_"I see something, looks like a whole lot of rocks, sir."_

"Do me a favour, when we find Daniel, don't tell him. The guy loves those things." So much for keeping it brief, but hell, it was a good line and had to be used.

Pushing off from the trunk, Jack kept low as he weaved his way through the brush to Hawkins last known and soon caught up with the younger out his binoculars, Jack done his best to see through the trees, hoping to spot any sign of Daniel or his Unas.

"Oh yeah, those are rocks alright. Just the kind he likes." Jack muttered as he scanned what appeared to be ruins. Most of the huge stones had tumbled down due to centuries of decay and the woods had grown back in to reclaim the land they no doubt once stood proud. The place was quiet, say for the usual morning chorus of bird song and the occasional buzzing insect. Other than that, no Unas.

"I thought Unas dwell in caves." Hawkins said shuffling to get a better look at the area below.

"And you'd be right. But if I was an Unas, and I had a new toy and didn't want to share, I'd go some place private." Jack placed the scopes back in his pocket and together with Hawkins used the cover of the trees to get a little closer.

"Toy?" Hawkins chuckled and shook his head as they stopped again. "How can you stay so cool in a situation like this? I mean, this thing killed Loder out-right, injured three more of our guys. How can you not see that it doesn't deserve anything less than a bullet between the eyes?"

"You really wanna do this now!?" Jack snapped, keeping his voice no louder than a whisper.

"I wanna know."

"Because the problem with first impressions is you only get one!" The Colonel said angrily. "I've made plenty of assumptions about people without knowing a damn thing about them and one in particular has surprised the hell out of me. Now, this Unas might have made a very bad first impression on us, but this is the second time he's saved Daniel's life. In my book, I'd say he's earned the benefit of the doubt."

"Good enough for me." Jack had expected another argument, another difficult question to answer, but Hawkins just nodded and quickly disappeared in the thick foliage, leaving the Colonel a little stunned.

"Well good. Glad we cleared that up..." He muttered to himself, still confused. He shook his head and worked his way to the left as Hawkins went right and pretty soon they both had a good view of a small clearing where a few more large stones stood. Jack had spotted the wisps of smoke long before he heard the call and he quickly snatched his binoculars from the pocket and looked through just as Hawkins came over the radio.

_"I see Jackson,"_

"Copy."

_"Shouldn't we get down there?"_

"Hold your position and cover me. Zatt only."

_"Yes sir."_

Good lad. Jack thought as Hawkins acknowledged his order with not a trace of contempt in his voice. Maybe the talk had worked.

... ... ... ...

Daniel was starting to regret leaving the warmth of the little dwelling. Not only was it cold, it was also very wet. As light as the fine mist was, after a few minutes out in it, Daniel could feel his bones chill, add a concussion into the mix and his coordination was non-existent.

"Ch-Chaka!" He called out for the Unas again, this time more desperately as now he was freezing and running out of things to hold on to as he searched. He seemed to be getting accustomed to being on his feet again at least since the dizziness hadn't been as frequent or as disconcerting but it was still enough of a presence to promote caution. The last thing he wanted was to pass out and crack his head again.

He had come a fair distance from the Unas' home and looking back, Daniel wasn't sure he could make it back without help.

"I really didn't think this one through very well..." He softly berated himself and closed his eyes briefly against the disorientation.

"Dan'el!" Daniel jumped at the sudden arrival of the object of his search and the civilian turned to meet two very concerned, Unas peepers. "Dan'el itey, Dan'el eta nona-ke!" Chaka's free hand reached forward to take Daniel's arm but the civilian pulled away slowly.

"Ka..." He replied with a very weak voice. Being on his feet for so long was starting to have an effect and he wasn't sure how much longer he could keep this up. He couldn't give up, he couldn't allow himself to loose his senses yet. "I can't rest Chaka, you need to hear me. Chaka, listen." Daniel indicated his own ear. "Listen." He repeated the actions and the Unas tilted his head in confusion before he understood.

"Aniss." Chaka supplied the word, Daniel needed.

"Ch..." Daniel closed his eyes and felt himself sway but Chaka caught his arm before he fell to his ass. Holding onto the offered limb, Daniel continued. "Chaka et-aniss Dan'el. Human, Jack O'Neill eta Zo. My leader is coming here." Chaka growled and snapped his head off to the right, like a twitch.

"Jack O'Neill kanay, he's my friend. Ka wukta kanay. Please, please don't hurt my friend." Daniel gasped now, the walk, the stress, the cold and now the battle to explain as best he could to Chaka had amplified the nauseous feeling a hundred-fold. Chaka still growled, still twitched as his own opinions were contradicted with what Daniel was asking of him.

"U'et Jack O'Neill?" Daniel blinked in surprise as Chaka quite successively pronounced the Colonel's name.

"Who is Jack O'Neill?" Daniel translated, something he had always done when trying to learn a new language. It helped him to memorise the phrase or word used and of course the context it had been used. He didn't actually for a moment consider that anyone other than the Unas was there until the Colonel emerged behind him.

"That would be me." Daniel turned to face Jack, but quickly turned back to Chaka when the Unas' growls and snarls became more ferocious. "Wanna call off your dog?" Jack asked calmly, his hands free of weapons with palms faced up in a gesture of surrender and Daniel was doing his best to do just that.

"Chaka! KA! Et-kanay! Kanay!" Chaka had advanced forward and Daniel held onto the Unas' arms and tried to match his stride while walking backwards. If the situation hadn't been so dire, he might have fallen, as such Daniel wasn't sure how he not only managed to stay on his feet, but also hold the young Unas back. "Jack kanay. He's a friend..." Chaka still growled, looking past Daniel at the human and seemed to sniff the air.

"Kanay?" Chaka asked, eyeing the Colonel warily.

"Kanay." Daniel said, breathlessly as he held still to Chaka's shoulders, partly to hold him at bay and also hold himself up. After an agonising few seconds Chaka finally took a step back and Daniel had to let go or fall forward. The young Unas continued to sniff and watch the new arrival.

"Obedience training is going well I see." Daniel turned slowly towards Jack and would have rolled his eyes at the comment if his eyes hadn't already been rolling up into his head...

... ... ... ...

He had taken a huge gamble, but it wouldn't have been the first time the Colonel had pinned everything on the word of his friend. Daniel had yet to let him down and he was glad that streak hadn't been broken today. It certainly looked hairy when a two hundred pound Unas, complete with teeth and claw came charging towards him, growling and snarling like a rabid dog, but Daniel had managed to cool it off.

Jack had no idea what Daniel was saying or rather shouting since the Unas was making enough of a fuss to almost drown out the strange words. The civilian held on, literally trying to hold the beast back and despite looking unarmed, the Colonel was far from defenseless. He had his Zatt tucked into the back of his pants to fall back on should negotiations fail. As it was, words won this day and Jack was ready with a typical O'Neillism to lighten the mood.

Daniel slowly turned to face him and for the first time in over a day, Jack got a good look at his friend. He was soaked (as where they all at this point, the rain having not let up since their arrival) and dotted with mud. The once olive green BDUs were a mixture of light and darker shades of brown, the darkest being the dried in blood from a head injury that looked very painful. From what Jack could see, the whole left side of Daniel's face was varying degrees of bruising. Who ever had done this had been far from gentle. Daniel's head was wrapped up in some kind of leather bandanna, under that was a leaf. Odd in itself, odder still was the faint traces of red mush, to pale to be blood. Daniel's left eye was a mixture of blue and purple, and the bruising edged out in the surrounding area. The side of his head and upper cheek were shades of green and yellow, so Jack had to guess the worst of the injury was under that leaf.

Daniel seemed less than impressed with the comment if the look he was giving the Colonel was anything to go by, but there wasn't much he could do about that now. Jack had always been a speak without-thinking sorta guy. Though Daniel didn't exactly have a clean track record in that department either. That whole 'niet' back in good old sixty-nine was right up there, if not higher than this particular crack. Nope, it was definitely higher.

It didn't really surprise Jack when Daniel started to topple. He had barely been able to keep his footing the whole time the Colonel had been observing him from the trees, more so when trying to calm the Unas. Stepping forward, Jack got an arm under Daniel's right shoulder and guided him as best he could towards the ground. For his part Daniel was good enough to support enough of his own weight till he was sat propped against a rock looking more than a little dizzy and out of breath. The Colonel eyed the Unas, Chaka when he heard a mixture of grunts and growls, obviously the creature was anxious at the situation playing out before him, not knowing what to do.

"Easy Fido," Jack soothed, and while the Unas far from understood the words, the Colonel at least hoped the tone would be enough of a reassurance that he wasn't going to hurt their mutual friend. Jack turned once more to Daniel as the younger man groaned, struggling to keep his eyes open and had to wonder, not for the first time, how the hell did Daniel do it? Anyone else would have either killed the damn thing or been killed. Not Daniel. Oh no. He had to surprise everyone and make nice. "Hey, try to stay with me okay? Gonna need you on hand if your dog gets any funny ideas."

"He's not a dog, Jack. He's a..."

"Big dog?" Jack couldn't help himself, but occasions like this when Daniel was too out of it to argue or shout at him, had to be utalised. It seemed this was not one of those times as the look Daniel now, weakly gave him, had the Colonel snapping his mouth shut and reaching for his pack. "How about some Tylenol?" Changing the subject always worked, especially when offering the archaeologist something he wanted. Most days it was coffee or chocolate, right now painkillers seemed to be high on the Daniel-wish-list. Taking out two capsules from the blister pack, Jack handed them to the civilian before offering the canteen to wash them down.

"Could do with something stronger if I'm honest..." Daniel said with a sigh.

"Like, a single malt." Jack smiled, agreeing that one would go down well about now.

"I meant pain relief, Jack."

There was a pause.

"So did I." He kept his expression neutral before urging Daniel to take another drink. "Listen, how's he gonna react if someone else comes down here?" The last thing Jack wanted was for Chaka to go nuts again and Daniel definitely didn't have it in him to intervene.

"Chaka," Jack sat back as Daniel called over to the Unas who, still eyeing the Colonel warily, ambled over, stooped low, knees bent, as if ready to pounce. Jack just grinned at the thing. "Et human kanay, damo." The Colonel watched as Chaka grunted a few words that anyone else might have mistaken for growls, Daniel however understood and with a careful nod from the civilian, Jack got on the radio.

"Hawkins, your clear, come on down. Slowly and no weapons."

_"On my way, sir."_

"Hawkins?" Daniel asked, looking more alert than he had a moment ago as Jack reached up to unravel the rather disgusting bandage. "Did you miss the part I said it was someone from camp who done this to me?"

"No, Daniel, I did not." Jack winced in sympathy as the last of the wrappings fell away and he got a good look at the wound. There was a rather large gash just above his left brow and the pale red mush he had seen earlier seemed to be all over it. "What the hell is this stuff?" He asked as he gently wiped it away.

"Chaka, thought he was helping and don't change the subject. Oww!"

"Baby."

"Jack!"

"Daniel," Jack stopped in his task and met the civilian's gaze. "Like I said, I heard you when you said it was someone from camp, but since you have yet to name that someone or offer any evidence to suggest who it might have been..."

"It happened too fast," Daniel winced again when Jack renewed his efforts with the antiseptic wipe. "I didn't get a clear look at the guy."

"Exactly."

"But, he's the only one I can think of who hates my guts." Daniel had closed his eyes now.

"Really? Cos I can name a few..." Daniel's eyes opened to pointedly glare at the Colonel. Jack shrugged and finished clearing away the last of the mush and turned just in time to see Hawkins enter the clearing. Chaka had noticed the new arrival to and while he was watching him, he made no move to attack. "I don't mean to sound full of myself here, and I really don't, but if Hawkins was the one who attacked you, wouldn't Chaka be a little pissed with the guy?"

Daniel's brow creased in confusion before he turned to look at Chaka to see the Unas had made no attempt to dismember the new arrival.

"You, actually have a point."

"Hey! If I can't sound full of it, you can't sound surprised when I'm actually right."

"I wasn't surprised." Jack gave him an 'o-really' look. "I was impressed."

"Well, I'm glad you approve."

"Of course I do have a massive head injury here." The Colonel rolled his eyes and waved Hawkins over.

"Lucky we have a field medic then."

... ... ... ...

Daniel watched as Hawkins rooted through his pack for the supplies he needed, occasionally looking across at Chaka each time the Unas moved, edging closer to get a better look at what was going on. The actions of the young Unas were obviously making the Sergeant nervous, after all, this was for all intents and purposes a dangerous alien. No one say for Daniel had seen just how civilized the beings were.

"Relax, Sergeant," Daniel said softly with the best smile he could muster. "He's just curious."

Hawkins nodded and continued to search out the things he would need, a pen-light, gauze, bandage, a blood pressure cuff, thermometer and various drugs, some in packets that could be mixed with water and the more heavy duty type that come in ready to use needles. The later got Daniel's stomach rolling with dread.

"So, obviously you've got something of a headache," Hawkins said checking each of Daniel's eyes by flashing the pen light across them. "Does it hurt any where else?" Daniel by now had closed his eyes, the light having amplified the pain some-what.

"Urm, my neck, kinda."

"All the time, or when you move?" Hawkins was now examining his neck and shoulders, his gloved hands probing the muscles and joints, pressing firmly but not so hard as to cause too much pain.

"Mostly when I move." Daniel was now sat back once again, Hawkins satisfied with what he had found.

"Looks like you could have wrenched your neck, possibly during the impact, but we're gonna need to get a neck brace on you just in case." Hawkins started rooting for the said item. This one was nothing more than a firm material that fastened into place with a velcro strap, but as soon as it was fitted, Daniel could feel the pressure taken from his aching shoulders. "You've definitely got a concussion and I'm gonna have to clean and stitch that gash."

Daniel groaned.

"Yeah, I know." Hawkins chuckled. "But don't worry, I'm very good at what I do."

"Now you just sound like you're going to enjoy sticking me with pointy things." Daniel smiled. "I wouldn't blame you..." Hawkins met the civilians eyes briefly before checking the dosage he was about to administer around the gash.

"Yeah, well for a long time, I wanted to see you suffer." the Sergeants voice was soft and Daniel closed his eyes, trying to stay still as the local anesthetic was applied to numb the tissue. He felt a tiny scratch before a sudden cold, each time the needle was inserted at key points around the wound. "But, now I think wanting that, was kinda stupid." The young man gently wiped the small amount of blood he had drawn from his interactions with the wound before starting to scrub the area more vigorously now it was not responsive to sensation, namely pain.

"For what it's worth, I am sorry." Daniel said, keeping his eyes closed as Hawkins worked. He could feel the pulling and tugging as the sutures were applied.

"I know." Hawkins kept up the pace,working as fast as he could. "Urm, this Unas..."

Daniel opened his eyes and smiled when he saw Chaka had now come very close and was watching with some fascination as the gash that had once been open and raw, was now pulled back together with each suture Hawkins applied.

"He won't hurt you, he's just never seen anything like this before."

"How did you do it? You know, tame him?"

"I didn't tame him, he's not an animal to tame. He's a person." Daniel watched as Chaka rooted through Hawkins pack and pulled out a sealed pack of gauze and started to sniff. "The Unas are much more than just beasts. They have language and a sense of honour, of right and wrong. They understand what the Goa'uld are too."

"Guess we need to be careful about putting all of our expectations on a first impression alone." Daniel smiled.

"Yeah. Well we're all guilty of that sometimes." Daniel smiled as Hawkins finally finished stitching up his head and started to check the civilian's vitals. "I'm sorry, I kinda thought you were the one who done this."

"Any why not?" Hawkins grinned and shrugged. "It's not like I gave you much reason to think otherwise."

"And that's the trouble with first impressions."

"You sound like the Colonel." Daniel closed his eyes with a small grin of his own. "We'll, apart from the obvious, you're okay." Hawkins began with his report just as Jack returned from his patrol, side-stepping around the young Unas as it continued to look through Hawkins bag of goodies. "We'll need to get you sent in for a couple of x-rays, I've got a feeling you've probably got a linear fracture of the skull, which with plenty of rest will heal in its own time. I'm more concerned with your neck, I'd like to rule out any breaks or fractures as soon as possible. Right now you need to remain as immobile as possible till we get you back."

"I just got off the radio to Teal'c. He's bringing the medical team this way. Should be here in a few hours." Jack said and knelt once more by Daniel who was finding it harder to stay awake.

"You've been lucky Dr, Jackson. I expected more complications with a head injury like this going untreated for as long as it did. For a start there's absolutely no sign of infection in the wound."

"Chaka treated it." Daniel offered weakly and could see the skeptical looks being passed between the two without needing to open his eyes. "Look like that, all you want. The plant he used smelt like antiseptic."

"Could have some medicinal properties we're not yet aware of." Hawkins offered and Daniel felt a hand gently nudge his arm. The civilian dragged his eyes open and found Jack looking at him, his expression one of concern.

"Tired, Danny?"

"Could say that."

"Well, Teal'cs gonna be a while with the med team, is it safe to let him sleep?"

"It should be safe enough, but I would recommend waking him every half hour or so, just to be sure."

"That's evil..." Daniel complained.

"Necessary evil, Danny-boy." Jack grinned and together with Hawkins, they managed to get the sleepy archaeologist to his feet. "Lets get you out of the rain at least, Fido cool with us using his crib?"

"His name's Chaka, Jack."

"Chaka, Fido...An Unas, by any other name, would still stink."

"Well, you don't exactly smell great either."

"Are you two always like this?" Hawkins asked surprising the two SG-1 members. "That explains the rumours." And that surprised the pair even more.


	6. Cookies!

**Epilogue: Cookies!**

Major Samantha Carter smiled at her friend as she entered the ward where he had been a guest for the last day. In her hands she had a small brown paper bag but it was obvious to anyone what was inside as she had only just baked them, as such the aroma of the cookies drifted, tantalising the senses of all who she passed. The one the cookies were meant for had yet to realise the treat he was in for as he was currently dozing on top of the blankets, dark blue robe on, with a book laid flat against his stomach. Obviously he had fallen asleep reading again and Sam shook her head.

Daniel didn't do inactivity. He had to be doing something at all times and as such the one book Janet had allowed him, had more than likely been read twice over by now. Whether he liked it or not, he needed the rest and his body had obviously stressed that point across when it had shut down, regardless of how interesting Daniel found the book.

With a smile and being as quiet as she could, Sam set the bag of cookies on the bedside table and gently tried to remove the glasses that where half on and half off his nose thanks to the angle he was currently laid. It didn't exactly go to plan and two bleary blue eyes fluttered open and as expected, Daniel immediately tried to hide the fact he had been asleep.

"Sam..." Daniel's voice was husky and he made an effort to clear his throat as he sat up a little straighter, quickly trying to eliminate any evidence of his snooze. "Hey, how long have you-"

"To long," Sam smiled and shook her head. She should have left as soon as she noticed he was asleep but he looked so uncomfortable. "Why don't I help you get settled and you can get some sleep. You look like you need it."

"Oh, no. Please, stay for a little while?" He smiled sleepily up at her and she nodded. "I've completely lost track of time. How long have I been in here anyway?"

"We got you back yesterday, don't you remember?" She sat down and gave his hand a little squeeze as the confusion surfaced in his eyes.

"Not a whole lot, no." He blinked and removed his glasses and Sam winced in sympathy as he turned just enough for her to see the neatly stitched gash above his left eye. It was still a rainbow of blue, purple, yellow and green and had to be hurting.

"Well you were pretty out of it." Sam smiled. "Want me to fill in the blanks?"

"That would be great." He laughed softly, his voice sounding a little stuffy and she stood to pour him a glass of water.

"Well, not long after you guys got back to camp, Chaka in tow-"

"Chaka..."

"He's fine, Daniel." Sam assured and handed him the water before plucking the book from his lap, marking the page and set it down on the bedside cabinet. "Dr Wilder on the other hand."

"James?" Sam nodded.

"Soon as Chaka saw him, he ran right for the guy and pinned him to the ground."

"What!?" Daniel's outburst had obviously been a little louder than he intended and her friend winced.

"Easy," Sam took the water and set it back down before he ended up wearing it.

"Why...why did he... I mean..."

"Daniel, take it easy." Sam perched on the side of the bed facing him. "Think about it. Chaka saw the attack, he even drove off your attacker before he could finish the job."

"Wait, James was the one who tried to kill me!? But...but why?" Sam shrugged.

"He won't say why, but he admitted to it. The Colonel wasn't exactly pleased as you can imagine. I thought he was gonna let Chaka drag him off."

"How did you get Chaka to back off?"

"The Colonel kept saying 'Ka' and threatened him with a rolled up news-paper."

"Sam, I'm being serious."

"So am I, Daniel."

"Oh."

"I think the fact the Colonel then zatted Dr Wilder appeased Chaka some what."

Daniel sighed and a thoughtful expression creased his still heavily bruised brow. "James and Robert were good friends, maybe that's why-"

"Hey, what happened to Dr Rothman wasn't your fault, Daniel." Sam rubbed his arm her heart breaking at the look of defeat in his eyes.

"Wasn't it?"

"No!" Sam pressed. "God, Daniel, no it wasn't. What happened was terrible, but no one was at fault." She had to stoop slightly to get him to meet her eyes again and she offered him a small smile. "Daniel, you know, more than most what's out there and you know how badly a situation can go bad. We do the best we can with what we've got. Rothman knew this too and he went back out there knowing all to well the dangers, but he done it because he believed in something, something people like Dr Wilder will never understand."

"What's that?" Daniel asked softly.

"We don't leave our people behind. Ever." Daniel smiled sadly and nodded slowly.

"What's gonna happen to him?"

"Well, it's with the General, but he'll likely be removed from the program and be charged with assault."

"Don't I have to press charges? He's a civilian, he can't stand before a military court, right?"

"You'd really let him get away with this?" Sam was honestly shocked when Daniel slowly nodded. "Daniel-"

"Sam. I can't do it, I can't drag out the events that have led up to all this, I just wanna put my friend to rest and move on." Daniel was looking more upset and Sam sighed, cupping the uninjured side of his face with her left hand.

"Alright." She smiled when he finally met her eyes again and she pulled him closer for a hug, rubbing his back when he sighed against her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"If those are cookies I smell, then yeah, I'm great." Sam laughed softly and gave him one last squeeze before he slowly sat back.

"Chocolate and Hazelnut."

"I'm gonna fracture my skull more often."

... ... ... ...

**AN:**

**And there it is. The first installment of a series of fictions I plan to write detailing the friendship between Daniel and Chaka. It's also a means for me to kick-start an idea I had about the native Goa'uld of P3X-888 being used to fashion a biological weapon against the System lords. **

**I would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to read and review this piece, I love getting feedback, seriously it's my cocaine, whether good or bad.**

**I'd be interested to know how many of you thought it was Hawkins, and whether you were surprised to find out who it had been all along :)**


	7. Not So Pure Shores

**The Linguist and the Beast**

**Chapter Seven: Not So Pure Shores**

This was the kind of work, Daniel had been missing. He loved his job and wouldn't change anything about it, well except perhaps the constant peril and danger that threatened the lives of those he cared about, but other than that, he got to travel, to study new cultures and even old ones that prior to their discovery only existed on paper or as evidenced by ruins back on Earth. But it was all so fast and being on the SGC's first contact team meant Daniel got to pave the way and open up dialogue with those people and races, it was then passed on to the relevant departments for them to follow up on. Half the time Daniel didn't feel like he was accomplishing much at all. This however, was all his. Namely because everyone else was terrified of the Unas.

Sitting as quietly as he could, Daniel observed the small tribe bathing in the shallow waters of a small stream. With Goa'uld present in the deeper waters of the rivers and lakes, this was likely the only place they could do this safely.

From his position on the cliff shelf that overlooked the small clearing, Daniel could see six Unas in total. Two seemed to be fully matured males, the bones in their jaw fully grown and the structure of their faces wide with prominent facial ridges and cuffs. Two more where adolescent males, younger than even Chaka. One other seemed full grown but had none of the facial ridges or exposed bone. Possibly a female, confirmed by the fact this one appeared to be bathing an even smaller Unas that it cradled in its arms as they bathed under the gentle cascade of water tumbling from the cliff above.

It was a regular Unas family outing and Daniel found the entire scene completely fascinating. He had learned so much during his visits. He couldn't really get to P3X-888 as much as he would have liked, as his work with SG-1 took priority, but when they had some down time, chances where Daniel was coming back here with SG-11. He would call in on the dig-site and see how the work was progressing with the excavating of the fossils and then slip away. More often than not Chaka was waiting for him and he would greet his Unas friend with an energy bar. The treat was always well received and the young Unas would make that approving gargle, which reminded Daniel of a cats purr, just deeper, louder and with bigger claws.

Daniel made a few more notes in his journal, before closing the book and switching off the recorder that had picked up some more words and vocal sounds from the family below. Chaka who had been knelt beside him, observing Daniel observe the tribe, moved away too, shadowing the human like a watch dog.

"Akar," Daniel said once they were far enough from the tribe and Chaka merely bowed his head, acknowledging the 'thank you'. He relied heavily on Chaka to take him to these secluded places, despite the Unas' strength and imposing presence, they were an extremely shy people, choosing to avoid the humans that worked only a few miles away. It just proved to Daniel that they were a peace loving race. Living in family units, caring for their young. "Daniel Jackson to base camp," He opened a channel to SG-11 who where waiting on him to return.

_"Daniel..."_

Shit, Jack?!

"Jack. Hey."

_"Don't you hey me! What the hell are you playing at telling Major Croft I gave you permission to wander off without an escort!?"_

"I have an escort."

_"The Unas doesn't count! On the double, Jackson!"_

It was never a good sign when the Colonel went back to using his surname. With a pained look at Chaka who was grunting and sniffing the radio, having met Jack and had a little interaction with the other man, the Unas was no doubt wondering why it sounded like the human was in the little box on Daniel's vest.

"Copy," He replied before Jack could have another aneurysm.

... ... ... ...

Daniel plodded into base camp feeling a lot like a naughty school child being sent to the headmaster. He knew it was only a matter of time till Jack found out about these little excursions and he was honestly surprised he had been able to get away with it for this long. The members of SG-11 who were dotted around the camp gave Daniel a sympathetic look, except for Croft who just looked pissed off. Jack had no doubt put him through the grinder for not clearing Daniel's walk-about with the Colonel first.

Entering the main canopy, Daniel stood there when he spotted Jack at the table, with Major Hawthorn and Sam. He wasn't sure what was going on but it seemed official. Maybe Jack wasn't just here to slap his hands.

"What's going on?" He asked seeing Jack pointedly glare at him. It was Hawthorn who answered.

"A man's gone missing."

"Who?" Daniel pulled off his bandanna and approached the table. They were looking at aerial imagery of the surrounding area and a last known location had been marked due north of the camp, close to the largest of the lakes that dotted the area.

"Hawkins." Sam provided sadly.

"Issac? W-when?" Daniel shook his head. In the last month, he and Issac had managed to not only bury the hatchet, but the young field medic had become something of a friend. Daniel was on P3X-888 every few weeks during which he and the Sergeant would catch up. Issac wanting to know how things were back on Earth (sports news mostly) since he was posted off world most days, while Daniel wanted to know about the operation and how things were progressing. Issac had also been keeping an eye on Chaka, any time the young Unas wandered close to the camp Issac kept the civilian science types calm and made sure no one shot the Unas.

"He's over-due for his check in by thirty minutes," Jack said, pulling on his cap and checking his watch. "We're about to head out now to his last known location."

"Where's Teal'c?" He asked as they exited the canopy, their pace urgent. If they were heading out there Teal'c was an adept tracker and would be able to speed up the search.

"Off with SG-6 on some Jaffa resistance related matter since we're technically on stand down."

"Yeah about that, how come you're here?" The gate was over a three hour hike from base camp and as far as they knew, Issac had only been missing for thirty minutes.

"Because, Daniel," Jack all but spat his name. "Croft reported in as he's supposed to and informed us you were still out in the field playing with the wild-life! I came out here to kick your ass, however making sure Hawkins is safe takes priority."

"Course..." He wanted to think he had a lucky escape, as it was, he would have preferred to have Jack unload holy-hell rather than loose another of their guys to this world. "Why was he out here alone, so close to the water?"

"All the recent rainfall has caused the lakes and rivers to swell," Sam said as she fell into step beside Daniel, the bag resting against her right hip containing the mobile MRI they had co-developed with the Tok'ra. "Hawkins was out surveying the land, trying to measure how much the waters had risen. The lake isn't far from base camp, if the waters continued to rise as they have been, we might have to pull out of the area or find higher ground."

"But we'd loose the site and the specimens..."

"I know, but if the waters rising are a seasonal occurrence for the region, it might explain why the fossils are there to start with."

"Goa'uld who got trapped during the dryer seasons." Daniel mused aloud and Sam nodded. "If that's the case we need to extract what we can, if the area floods we're gonna loose everything. The rain already set us back three months."

"First things, first." Jack said as he picked up the pace, now clear of base camp they entered the woodland and steered towards the banks of the not to distant lake.


	8. Up The Creek

**Chapter Eight: Up the Creak**

The closer they got to the lake, the louder the sound of rushing water became. While Jack had knew about the rising water levels, having sat through numerous reports by Hawthorn and Dr Howard, the new lead on the dig, he never imagined it would be this bad.

The Colonel cleared the last rise and was now looking down at the lake, which was once calm and still, now the water raged. Clearly the water from the mountains visible in the distance further north had finally reached the lower laying land and the lake had tripled in volume.

"This isn't good," He heard Daniel say as the civilian surveyed the scene. So far the water was being swept off to the east, along the path of a dried up river bed, but it was only a matter of time before it threatened base camp.

"Sierra-Golf-one-niner to base camp, come in please."

_"Go ahead, Jack." _Hawthorn answered through the radio.

"Hank, start packing it up. The lake is now a surging river, it's only a matter of time before the whole area floods."

"Major Hawthorn," Daniel joined in the conversation. "Make sure what ever specimens Dr Howard has managed to recover are packed up too."

_"Copy. Any sign of our guy?"_

"Not yet," Jack looked to Carter who was trying to get a fix on Hawkins radio in the hopes he was trying to use it, but if the look on her face was anything to go by, she wasn't having much luck with that. "Don't worry, Hank, we'll bring him home." He closed the channel and started down towards the water, even though the shore was still a number of yards away, the ground was saturated and with each step, water would ooze up, like they were walking on a sponge. "Alright, spread out, we don't have much time and-"

"Dan'el!" The Colonel spun to the right seeing a familiar Unas on higher ground. "Kanay keka! Et-den."

"The hell is he doing here?" The Colonel asked as the Unas in question started running along the elevated ground, weaving between the trees.

"I think he's found Hawkins." Daniel didn't wait for permission and was off after the Unas quicker than Jack could grab his jacket to hold him back.

"For crying out loud!" He ran after the civilian with Carter in tow, both having to scramble up the muddy bank to negotiate their way around the edges of the vastly swollen lake.

"Kanay." Chaka had stopped and now pointed towards the water below them. This part of the lake wasn't so fast as the natural curvature of the land aimed a lot of the rushing water back off into the middle of the lake. It was still dangerous, the water still moved fast, washing away the earth in its wake. About forty yards into the water was an island that was quickly being eroded by the sheer force of the water, it was here Hawkins stood, soaking wet already and covered in mud.

"Remind me to bring him a ball next time we're here..." He was of course joking, after this, he doubted very much if they would return. They had their crusty old bones and all they needed was a live specimen to complete the set, then it was just a case of working out how to use the bugs found to not only make the disease but also the cure.

"Issac!" Daniel scurried down the bank calling out to the stranded man, having to scream to be heard above the din of the water. Hawkins heard the call and waved looking relieved.

"Come on in the waters great!" The Sergeant shouted back.

Jack waved back before rooting through his pack. "Least that's a good sign he's not hurt to bad, lets get a line to him."

"It's to far to throw it..." Daniel was already slipping out of his own pack and jacket, volunteering himself for the swim.

"No way, Daniel. You pull us back. Carter, you're the only one of us who knows how to use that thing. Soon as we're back on the shore, zatt us and make sure neither of us have one of those things in our head." The Colonel slipped out of his vest and jacket, spotting Chaka a good distance away from the shore and reluctant to venture further.

"This water might be moving to fast...they could have all been swept away." Carter offered hopefully but Jack shook his head.

"I don't think so, Carter." he nodded towards Chaka, who could obviously sense the danger in the waters before them. Immediately Carter's eyes filled with dread and she closed them in a moment of silent prayer. She never struck him as the religious type, a woman of science and action, but in situations like this, even the most logical minds called out for the aid of a higher power.

The Colonel stood taking the line from Daniel and securing it around his waist while the civilian anchored the other end to a tree near the edge of the water.

"Alright," He started taking in deep breaths ready for the swim, standing on the edge of a lake that could possibly hold a fate worse than death.

"Swim fast." Said Daniel who was stood beside him, holding the line ready to pull them back.

"Oh you better believe it." The Colonel eased himself into the cold water, walking out as far as he could before he had to start swimming, kicking hard to battle the current. He had always been a strong swimmer and the fact this part of the lake was relatively sheltered by the shore, he was able to make it to the quickly shrinking island in good time. "Issac, you lied! The water sucks!" He said as the Sergeant pulled him onto dry land.

... ... ... ...

In the blink of an eye it had all went to hell. The second Hawkins got back to the main shore, Jack was watching helplessly as Daniel was first struck and then thrown into the surging waters while the Goa'uld within Hawkins homed in on Carter. His second done him proud as even before he had taken one step towards her, she had zatted him. It made his next decision easier, more so when she waved him on, screaming at him to go.

Running as fast as his water loaded boots would allow, Jack launched himself back into the lake, diving head first, hands breaking the surface, making him more streamline as he cut through the depths. He kicked hard, the current with him and he was propelled at some speed further down stream. With another kick he broke towards the surface and shook the water from his face, searching the white and green for any sign of Daniel. He was rewarded with a choked out 'Jack' from a barely visible head a little further away and the Colonel started swimming towards him. They bobbed up and down, following the path of the flowing waters as it drove up and over anything in its path, carrying the two members of SG-1 with it.

The water was picking up speed and becoming more violent and both Jack and Daniel had been sucked under more than once, luckily both were to stubborn to give up and had kicked back towards the light and air. It was becoming harder to do so each time, as they fought for breath and a way back to the shore before they were washed miles down stream. The water itself was becoming more hazardous as debris was washed into the flood and Jack narrowly avoided being impaled on a jagged piece of tree as it was carried by the waters.

With one final push the Colonels hand snagged Daniel's jacket and he pulled the spluttering man towards him, holding the civilian above the water as the last time Jackson had went under he had stayed there.

"Got-cha!" He declared as Daniel coughed up half the river. "Not the biggest I've caught," He joked and with his one free hand he grabbed for a low branch from a tree that had almost been ripped free of the banks, luckily the roots went deep and the sturdy fauna halted their ride. "Might have to throw you back come to think about it."

"Yeah," Daniel coughed. "Do it, I'd rather drown than have the ass kicking you promised." The banter lightened the mood somewhat but it didn't change their situation. Thankfully Daniel still had enough of his wits about him to not only throw back a retort, but reach for the branch too, leaving Jack able to pull himself closer to the bank with two hands instead of one.

As fast as the two very wet and now very muddy men could manage, both Jack and Daniel clawed their way towards the shore, out of breath and desperate to get out and away from the water.

"Well, that was refreshing!" Jack declared as he got to one knee and reached back to help Daniel up, but the civilian had backed away, pulling the zatt from the holder and aiming it at the confused Colonel. For a sickening moment, Jack thought that a Goa'uld had found its way into his friend. "Danny, no..." He knew pleading to the host was pointless, there was little Daniel could do to help if he was now a host to a parasite, but he had to try but at the same time he was reaching for his own zatt. And that's when he felt it.

... ... ... ...

"NO!" Daniel screamed just as the Goa'uld parasite snaked its way up the last inch of Jack's back. It had just made a lunge for the neck when Daniel fired. He had hoped to simply shoot the bastard thing, but it moved to fast and even so, the blast of the energy weapon would have still caught his friend. Not wanting to miss and loose Jack, he made the tough call to fire on the Colonel, stunning the two of them, but Jack had called out prior to the blast as the Goa'uld had impaled the soft tissue around Jack's left shoulder.

The energy surged around both Jack and the Goa'uld and as the Colonel fell to the ground, the parasite dangled lifelessly, half in and half out of its intended host. Daniel scurried forward and grabbed the creature, his hands full of mud and the parasite being slick and slimey made it hard to grip. Daniel growled in frustration as no matter how hard he gripped it, every time he pulled his hands would slide from the body leaving it partially buried in Jack's shoulder. He tried again and again, but each time he was only able to move it very little.

"Damnit! COME ON!" He snarled when he realised the Goa'uld was starting to rouse. "No, no no no!" He grabbed it again and pulled, each time with each hand, but it was no good. It seemed to be hooked in place. It was gonna wake and it was gonna take Jack...

Just when he thought it was over, Daniel was pulled back by a rough hand and a familiar snarl echoed in his right ear. Chaka had come from no where and seemed to know what Daniel was trying to do. With his powerful yet dexterous hands, Chaka held Jack down, who by now was coming too, and with the main claw of its left hand, cut into the skin of the Colonel, exposing the head of the parasite. Jack had called out as, obviously Chaka was being far from gentle but then they didn't have time to be. The Unas snarled in response before tearing the now writhing creature from the Colonel's neck. Blood poured from the open wound and Jack was still shouting his displeasure, but as brutal as the Unas surgery had been, it still had to be better than the alternative.

A shrill cry from the Goa'uld was brought to an abrupt end as Chaka tore the parasite in two, discarding its body in favour of gathering up Jack and urging Daniel to follow as the Unas led a very unsteady Air Force Colonel from the waters edge. Daniel got up and hurried after the pair, watching the water and the surrounding banks just in case any more appeared.

"Gah, put me down, Fido." Jack demanded when they were far enough away to relax. Daniel looked to Chaka and translated, adding please and thank you were appropriate. The Unas nodded and let go of Jack who staggered a few paces to the right to lean heavily against a tree. He was nursing his left shoulder his dark eyes looking to Daniel for answers since the last thing he no doubt remembered was Daniel zatting him. "Wanna explain what the hell just happened?" Jack asked, somewhat breathlessly.

Daniel nodded and went to help Jack to sit but the Colonel quickly lifted his own zatt to Daniel's chest.

"Sorry, don't trust you."

"Jack, you had a Goa'uld about to invade you, I had to shoot."

"How do I know one didn't get you already?"

"Well, Chaka!" He indicated the young Unas who was now watching the pair with interest, trying to follow the conversation confused by their actions. "He sensed the one in Hawkins, he knew he was a host before he even got to shore, that's why it attacked."

"So because this Unas isn't trying to rip your head off I'm expected to believe you?"

"Well, yeah!"

"Okay, then answer me this. How do I know the Unas isn't a host too!?"

It was a completely legitimate question and one Daniel wasn't sure how to answer. He had seen the proof for himself, Chaka had saved Jack's life by ripping the Goa'uld out of him before it could completely submerge within the Colonel's mind, and unless Jack remembered that there really wasn't much point in arguing.

"Jack, think back to a few minutes ago. What do you remember?"

"You zatting me!"

"After that!"

"Nothing till just now!"

"Then we have a problem." Daniel held up his hands looking to Chaka who done the same, the Unas not entirely understanding the motion but he seemed to find it amusing.

"What, not gonna zatt me?" The Colonel asked and Daniel pulled a face of utter frustration.

"Oh right, because I want to kill you."

"Right forget I asked." Jack pushed off from the tree and waved the zatt in a 'start walking' gesture. Daniel turned and headed in the direction of higher ground, Jack plucking Daniel's zatt from the waist of his pants before pushing him on. Chaka had started walking to though no longer held up his hands and Daniel could feel the tension emanating from the Colonel.

"Jack," Daniel stopped walking after a few minutes and turned to face his friend, making sure to keep his hands exactly where they could be seen. "Look, I know I'm asking a lot here, but you need to believe me. If I was a host, Chaka wouldn't be so calm. If Chaka was a host, he wouldn't be sticking around, because lets fact it, you're not in any condition to pursue him."

"Why would I pursue him? I'd just shoot him!"

"Okay, so you'd shoot him, but why isn't he running?"

"How the hell should I know!"

"Because he doesn't have a reason too! Jack," Daniel put his hands down and sighed, the action enough to make the Colonel angry.

"Daniel," The tone of Jack's voice was very intimidating and it was times like this Daniel really envied those people whose best friends weren't trained killers. The civilian put his hands back up and started walking once again.

... ... ... ...

Well this was a damned fine mess. Once more this planet had thrown them a curve-ball and their little search and rescue had changed into yet another all day hike!

What was it with this place?

Was it cursed?

Alive and taken a huge dislike to him?

What!?

Jack grumbled under his breath and kept up the pace, in his right hand a zatt aimed at Daniel who walked just a few paces ahead, while his pet dog, AKA Chaka, bounded ahead seemingly oblivious to the situation between the two humans and that's how Jack wanted it kept. Chaka hadn't given Jack any reason to hurt him, but there was the doubt in the Colonel's mind that both the Unas and Daniel might be Goa'ulds. It was a scenario he had been in only a few months ago with Daniel at least, and he wasn't in any hurry to replay it, fate it seemed, was not with him on that one. The difference being back then, he had Carter and Teal'c as back up and Daniel was alone and easy to control. Here and now? Well, Daniel had Chaka who was deadly enough in its own right. If Daniel so chose, he could have easily had the Unas over-power the Colonel.

So why hadn't he? It could be he was telling the truth, but then if there was one thing he had learned over the years fighting the Goa'uld, it was never to let his guard down. All he had to do was get them back to the gate and that would be that. The only problem with that was they had been swept along quite far by the waters and a lot of the land had changed due to the flooding. The woodlands were now boggy marshes and Jack's boots were not equipped to deal with so much mud and wet, not this high especially.

The further they walked, the steeper the incline became and the drier it got, but walking that far through that much mush had sapped Jack's strength and he had to call them to a stop. The Colonel found a sturdy leaning post, another tree, and proceeded to catch his breath, keeping the zatt primed on Daniel who looked remarkably fresh. There was a first.

"You okay, Jack?" The civilian asked, barely out of breath and almost dry, while Jack was still soaked, a lot of that perspiration down his back and under-arms.

"I'm fine, we've been walking a while, figured you could do with a break."

_Nicely covered._

"We've barely been walking an hour." The Colonel frowned and checked his watch. He had to be lying because he felt like they'd been at this hours. Sure enough, Daniel was not lying. "Jack, you do realise you were hurt don't you?"

"I do...not." He frowned and tried to straighten up. How was he hurt and where? As far as he knew, nothing hurt. His left arm felt a little weak and cold, with numb fingers, but it didn't hurt.

"Jack, look at your arm." At Daniel's urging he checked the left one out, since his initial assessment had logged an issue with that one. Sure enough there was a streak of red running from under his black t-shirt. The blood had long since dried, which meant he wasn't still bleeding, or at least not bleeding a whole lot.

"Huh," He plucked at the dark fabric, trying to lift it and find the source of the blood. All he saw was more of the stain but no wound. Further up maybe? He craned his head back as far as he could and even lowered his shoulder to try and get a good look but only managed to hurt himself. He bit back the yelp and tried to retain as much pride as he possibly could, rising the zatt once more when he heard Daniel approach. "Stay back."

"Jack for gods sake you need to let me help you!"

"All you need to do, is keep walking."

"Fine. Lets go." Daniel lowered his hands, a familiar stubborn set to his jaw. Just behind him, the Unas watched, grunting out some words that Jack couldn't make out never mind understand. Daniel simply held up a hand to the creature and shook his head. "The gate is still a four hour hike away, longer if we don't get moving now because the water is still coming in and flooding the low-lands."

"How do you-" Daniel thumbed towards Chaka and Jack nodded. "Ah, I see." He cleared his throat and tried to straighten up but his weight proved to much for the strength he had left in him and he ended up slipping down the trunk of the tree to land on his ass. "Just, give me a minute." He gasped and closed his eyes, forgetting for the moment he was meant to be a threatening guard of prisoners. All he wanted to do was sleep.

... ... ... ...

Daniel watched helplessly as Jack slid down the tree to sit, rather heavily at its base, his once steady right hand falling, weakly holding the energy weapon before it dropped from the mans fingers. Jack had been flagging for the last thirty minutes and while the Colonel hadn't noticed, he and Chaka had slowed right down so he could keep up. Daniel had to watch as his friend slowly grew more and more fatigued, his left arm covered in the blood from the wound his neck and the soft tissue around his shoulder. It hadn't been a deep wound, nor had it bled heavily but there was clearly something wrong with the Colonel.

Jack could walk days without stopping, his specialist training all about survival and staying one step ahead of the enemy. While there was no way Daniel could ever be that efficient or deadly, Jack had been good enough to give the civilian plenty of tips and pointers, it was how he knew something was very wrong. After an hour walking, Jack shouldn't have even broken a sweat.

Behind him Chaka paced anxiously sniffing the air as if trying to gauge in his own way what was wrong with the other man. Daniel took a careful step closer to Jack, who's eyes had closed, before kneeling beside him. It was only now Daniel could see the evidence of illness in the Colonel. His complexion was pale, with a flush to his cheeks indicating a fever.

"Jack?" Daniel reached out and gently shook Jack's shoulder seeing two brown eyes slowly open and search out the source of the voice.

"Hey, Danny." Jack's speech seemed slurred and Daniel felt his stomach twist with worry but he smiled at his friend and slowly pushed the fallen zatt aside.

"Hey Jack." He sat beside the Colonel and met the older man's bleary eyes. "I need to take a look at you."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I think you might have an infection and I'd like to treat it, make sure you get better."

"Well, isn't that what we generally do? Make sure, we get better?" Jack weakly reached out and patted Daniel's shoulder leaving the civilian worried out of his mind.

"Yeah." Daniel smiled and gently reached up to pull the torn shirt aside. The fabric seemed to be stuck to the skin and as he slowly peeled it back, he was hit by the most god-awful stench and had to cover his mouth and nose so as not to be sick. the wound seemed to have closed, which would explain the lack of blood, but a clear puss, speckled with dark red clots seeped from the broken skin. Daniel had to turn away and swallowed very hard, the urge to just empty his stomach almost to much to resist.

Chaka had caught the scent of the infection and started to pace back and forth anxiously before approaching to sit by Daniel.

"J'ak, denna-itey tak."

"Yes, Jack's very sick..." Daniel took a breath and reached into the pockets of his vest, glad he hadn't left it back with his pack and Sam. He had some antibiotics, pain killers and a few medical dressings locked away in pockets, along with some energy bars and water-purifying tablets. "Chaka, an'tack ke-cendak." Chaka nodded once and was off rooting through their surroundings to gather anything that could be used to help. The Unas knew this land and its dangers. Daniel had underestimated Chaka's methods once before, as it turned out, with Chaka's help they had discovered a whole new set of antibiotics. Right now, Daniel had to do the best he could with what he had, which wasn't a lot. "Jack, you still with me?"

"Uh-huh."

"You need to take these." He handed four pills in total to the Colonel. "Two antibiotics and two Tylenol. You've got a bad infection and a fever..."

"Sure, doc." Jack took each of the pills one at a time before washing them down with water from Daniel's canteen.

"This might hurt a bit." He warned as he took out one of the antiseptic wipes and started to clean the wound. To his surprise, Jack didn't even flinch but the wound wept out more of the clear fluid and Daniel cringed at the sight. It wasn't until more normal looking blood started to flow that Jack seemed to feel the pain, which Daniel had to assume was a good sign. Jack too seemed a little more with it as his high temperature slowly came down to more manageable levels.

"Yeah, that hurt a lot." Jack said around gasps and Daniel shot him a sympathetic look as he held a piece of gauze over the wound. It would hopefully draw out the bad stuff and stop any more getting in.

"I know, sorry."

"It's okay." Jack took another swig from the canteen and sat looking marginally better than he did half an hour ago.

"Do you want the zatt back?" Daniel asked, offering the Colonel the weapon he had let slip from his fingers.

"Na, I think you're probably not a Goa'uld." Jack shrugged in an apologetic way.

"Well, I did try to tell you."

"Oh there it is."

"What?"

"The 'I told you so'."

"Well I did."

"Shut up." Jack meant it but Daniel just chuckled and continued applying the bandage, wrapping it around Jack's chest and over the afflicted shoulder. "What the hell happened anyway? After you shot me?"

"I told you, there was a Goa'uld. It literally impaled your neck just as I fired. It was stuck in there for about a minute while I tried to get it out but I couldn't, to damn slimey."

"But you got it out right!?" There was a desperate tone to Jack's voice and Daniel quickly nodded.

"Chaka did. He had to slice into your shoulder to pull it out, they must have some kind of barb making it harder to extract them."

"Nice." Jack pulled a face, he was less than thrilled at the image. "And me feeling like this, it's just...the wound being infected right?"

"I'm not sure," Daniel said honestly as he sat facing Jack. "Chaka said something odd a minute ago."

"Daniel, everything Chaka says is odd?"

"No, you just don't understand his language."

"like I said, odd." He shrugged then wished he hadn't. "So what was odd?"

"Well, the closest translation I can come up with is 'the bite is still inside'."

"There's some of it still in me!?" Jack was clearly panicked and Daniel quickly shook his head.

"No, not in the literal sense. It didn't leave anything in you, like a mouth or teeth or..."

"Give me the zatt..."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "What I think it means is, something about the bite has caused this." Jack still didn't seem to be following and instead was looking for the zatt. "What we know about the Goa'uld here, they're predatory or they were. Now the ones that left, blended with humans and mated to take on certain aspects of our biological make up to make that-"

"Carter covered this!"

"Right," Daniel sighed. "Well these Goa'uld, the ones that stayed and remained in part, predatory, must have developed a way to bring down prey. I mean, you call them snake-like and a snakes arsenal is its bite and..."

"Venom." Jack finished and Daniel nodded.

"I've asked Chaka to find something to help, he seemed to understand the wound, what it was."

"This day just keeps getting better and better."


End file.
